Politician jailed for poll fraud

A FORMER Redbridge borough councillor has been jailed for electoral offences and banned from holding elected office for five years, the Metropolitan Police said.

Chaudhary Mohammed Iqbal, 51, of Cecil Avenue, Barking, was sentenced for three counts of making false statements in candidate nomination papers, as well as one count of perverting the course of justice.

Iqbal submitted false declarations regarding his address in the 2018 local government elections, the police said.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of causing or permitting a false statement to appear on a nomination form, and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The former councillor appeared at Southwark crown court earlier this month and was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for each of the three electoral malpractice offences, to run concurrently.

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

In addition, he was 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.