What happened? 

“A group of Met police officers raided my home in Bow, East London, early one morning to arrest me.  The charge was ‘attempting to pervert the course of justice’.  Police later admitted they had no evidence.  There has never been a satisfactory explanation from the police about the operation.  Funds are now urgently needed to sue the Met, to cover court issue fees, a premium for legal insurance and other initial legal costs.  The only way now to put pressure on the Met is to commence legal action.  Correspondence has got us nowhere.”

Why?

• The dawn police raid happened just 6 days before our landmark High Court election case opened in which Lutfur Rahman, then elected Executive Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and an associate, were found guilty of voter fraud and both banned from public office for 5 years.  In the case, (the longest of its’ type in British history), the election petitioners, 4 local voters, received a commendation from the judge for taking the case in the public interest. 
• Sadly, the Met police were unhelpful throughout.  It’s still unclear as to why, and the truth will only come out if the police are brought to account.
• The election case has been seen as very important in prompting an overdue national review of election law to help improve vote security.  Voter fraud destroys democracy at the most basic level.  It’s a human rights issue.
• Why would the police seek to arrest me, (without any evidence), just as I was helping to expose a massive, industrial-scale, voter fraud?
• Obviously the police should only arrest people, if they have sufficient evidence of a criminal offence having been committed.  In the context of the election case, it is curious why the Met mounted this operation against me at that time and for what reasons.
• The government has turned its’ back on the petitioners.
• British election law is in urgent need of radical reform, but little progress has been made.  Currently, democracy is not protected.
• Election fraud is much more common in Britain than often assumed - but the authorities pretend otherwise. The police have never carried out a serious criminal investigation after the Tower Hamlets election court verdict.  Voter fraud is criminal fraud.  So why has criminality been overlooked in this case?  There must be a reason.
• My legal action suing the police will force the Met to explain their actions in court, if necessary.  Accountability and transparency in policing is vital.

The Bigger Picture.

The election case was taken in the public interest.  It was discovered that complaints had been made to the police about vote-rigging in the Borough for years, but they were ignored. There is always the danger that political pressure will compromise policing.

During the High Court case, witnesses were threatened, assaulted and one was told that all his family would be murdered if he gave evidence.  Police ignored our demands for witness protection and refused to investigate the intimidation.  In contrast, Mr. Rahman was given “VIP treatment” with a “Presidium Guard” of 5 uniformed police officers accompanying him when he attended court to give evidence.

Subsequently, the Met have failed to carry out proper criminal investigations following on from the damning election court verdict.  In the first police inquiry officers didn’t even keep notes or obtain the mountain of 27 files of evidence already presented to the election court and in a second inquiry, ordered by the London Assembly, it failed to even bother to obtain the election trial transcript.  Over £3m and 4 years wasted!  

Further concerns have also been raised about the widespread misuse of council grants over 5 years or more.  Civic corruption became normalised.  The citizens of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets deserve transparency, accountability and justice.  For over 5 years the authorities have turned their backs on these important problems.  Why?  Due to our pressure, the City of London police has now started a new investigation into grant fraud.  We live in hope.

Democratic elections throughout Britain must be protected and the police must also be accountable.  Public local authority funds must be spent with care and integrity.

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