Lutfur Rahman
(Picture: NIGEL HOWARD)Disgraced former Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman is to attempt to win back his old job, he announced on Monday.
Mr Rahman was re-elected in 2014 but was thrown out of office a year later when an election court found he had broken election rules.
However he was never prosecuted. A watchdog later found the Met police had bungled its initial investigation into wrongdoing during the 2014 poll.
Mr Rahman said he would stand for the Aspire party and vowed to challenge Labour borough mayor John Biggs’s record on “service cuts, tax hikes and road closures”.
In an election leaflet, he wrote: “I have never ever acted dishonestly, but to those who think I didn’t exercise enough oversight over campaigners in the last election, I apologise.
“I couldn’t afford to appeal the election tribunal’s report, but I am heartened that police subsequently cleared me of wrongdoing, after investigations costing £3m of public money.”
Mr Rahman was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices by an Election Court in 2015. This was a finding in civil law not in criminal law.
Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey said he had “driven a coach and horses through election law and didn’t care”. He also ordered Mr Rahman to pay £250,000 in costs.
He said Mr Rahman had run a “ruthless and dishonest campaign” to convince the electorate that Mr Biggs was a racist.
Other examples of malpractice included ballots being double-cast or cast from false addresses and providing free food and drink to encourage people to vote for Mr Rahman.
