UK media is reporting that the British government has issued what is described as a “damning report” on corruption in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. According to the report by The Telegraph:
Lutfur Rahman
Tower Hamlets, the east London council, sold off public buildings to associates of the Mayor and handed out grants to ineligible bodies, a damning Government report has found.
The winning bidder to buy Poplar Town Hall offered a lower price than other bidders and ‘had an association’ with the controversial Mayor Lutfur Rahman, according to an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The Mayor personally intervened in the awarding of council contracts, which lacked signed paperwork or audit trails, the report found. Hundreds of thousands of pounds in public money were awarded to local bodies that were not eligible for the money after the intervention of elected councillors, the report found.
The audit was commissioned by Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, following allegations of cronyism, fraud and waste at Mr Rahman’s council.
Mr Rahman, who has courted the support of the borough’s Bangladeshi community, was re-elected in May. That victory is being challenged in the High Court by people who alleged the vote was riddled with fraud.
In February, the GMBDW reported on an article which looked at corruption in Tower Hamlets whose mayor is close to the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE).
UK media has described the Islamic Forum of Europe as the European wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Southeast Asian Islamist political party close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood. According a report by the Center for Social Cohesion, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) operates out of the East London Mosque and shares many of the same trustees and senior management including Muhammad Abdul Bari, the former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). The CSC also reports that In October 2003, IFE invited Anwar al-Awlaki to speak at its ‘expoislamia’ event. Anwar al-Awlaki is the pro al-Qaeda imam based in Yemen whom the Fort Hood shooter had been in contact. It should also be noted that the London Islamic Center, an $18 million facility built in 2004 that houses the Islamic Forum of Europe and its associated East London Mosque, also contains the offices of Muslim Aid, known to have been a member of the the Union of Good,a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi that helps to raises funds for Hamas. According to the Daily Telegraph, the IFE has placed sympathizers in elected offices including gaining significance influence over a local government council.
