Labour in fresh corruption storm over £2million ‘ bribe’
AN ALLEGED Labour corruption scandal involving a £2million bribe to guarantee planning permission for one of Britain’s biggest skyscrapers is being investigated by police.
A businessman with close ties to the party was secretly recorded describing how the money would be split among four Labour politicians he labelled ‘greedy f*****s’.
Abdul Shukur Khalisadar, 38, who allegedly also requested a £15,000 a month consultancy fee, told the developer he was acting on behalf of Labour ‘gatekeepers’ in the party’s east London stronghold of Tower Hamlets. He said the cash would guarantee planning permission for its £500million Alpha Square development in the Isle of dogs, east London which included a 65-storey tower.
In a tape leaked to a Sunday newspaper, Mr Khalisadar describes how he sought the bribe from John Connolly, UK head of development for the Hong Kongbased property group Far East Consortium (FEC).
Mr Khalisadar said he was introduced to Mr Connolly in October 2015 by Shiria Khatun, then deputy mayor of Labour- controlled Tower Hamlets Council.
Mr Connolly said in a leaked internal memo that the deputy mayor told him Mr Khalisadar ‘can help get planning consent’.
Mr Khalisadar later sent a contract to the developers in which he would ‘deliver planning approval’ at a ‘premium of £2,000,000’. Four Labour politicians would be given ‘half a mill’ each, he claimed.
Mr Khalisadar, who runs a business centre in Whitechapel, east London, has helped create local support for Tower Hamlets’ current Labour mayor, John Biggs. He has also met national party figures, including Harriet Harman when she was deputy leader.
The alleged corruption scandal in sacking Tower of Hamlets Lutfur Rahman, follows the a former Labour councillor in the borough who later became its independent mayor before being found guilty of election fraud two years ago. The conversation with Mr Khalisadar was taped by a consultant acting on FEC’s instructions.
Instead of paying a bribe it reported the approach to Mr Biggs who called in investigators from the accountancy firm EY.
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets Council said: ‘Their findings were assessed by a leading QC who recommended we report the matter to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
‘We did this and the SFO then passed it on to the National Crime Agency for investigation. We are waiting to hear the outcome.’
Mr Khalisadar told The Sunday Times he had asked for £2million but denied this was a corrupt offer. He told the Mail the recording was ‘partial and misleading’, adding: ‘I did not bribe anyone, no contract of any sort was signed with the Far East Consortium. This was two years ago and neither the council nor the police have been in touch with me at any time since then.
‘It would not be appropriate to give any further detail while an investigation takes place, other than to say I am not involved in any wrongdoing.’
Miss Khatun, who resigned as deputy mayor earlier this year, denies any wrongdoing.
FEC did not respond to the Mail, but told The Sunday Times it had ‘acted promptly and professionally in reporting the allegations to the mayor of Tower Hamlets’.
‘Can help get planning consent’