Former councillor jailed for electoral fraud

A former councillor has been jailed for electoral fraud and banned from holding elected office.

FORMER Redbridge borough councillor, Chaudhary Mohammed Iqbal was sentenced for three counts of making false statements in candidate nomination papers and perverting the course of justice.

The charges against the 51-year-old from Barking relate to the 2018 local government elections in the London Borough of Redbridge.

Iqbal appeared at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for each of the three electoral malpractice offences, to run concurrently.

He was also given eight months’ imprisonment for perverting the course of justice, to run consecutively.

In addition, Iqbal was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £10,422.54, compensation to Redbridge Council of £10,000 for the by-election costs and compensation to Redbridge Council of £18,368 for the allowances paid to him.

He was reminded of Sec 173 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 setting out the requirements of a person convicted of a corrupt practice in relation to his current elected post and also the five-year ban on holding elected office.

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah McConnell, of the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said: “This is a significant sentence for this type of offence. It reflects the seriousness with which the court viewed the wrongdoing in an electoral setting.”

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