Met Police refuse to prosecute convicted election fraudster Lutfur Rahman

The Met Police have decided not to pursue criminal charges against the convicted election fraudster Lutfur Rahman and his Tower Hamlets First cronies.

Last year the High Court overturned the corrupt election of Lutfur Rahman as Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the British Department of English Communities & Local Government sent in a team of administrators to take over the running of the council which was rotten to the core.

Despite the High Court ruling that Rahman had broken electoral law in a trial involving as many as 100 witnesses the Met Police claim that there is insufficient evidence to bring a criminal prosecution for the same offences and he will walk away scot free.

This kind of electoral fraud is happening all over the country but the police are scared to get involved for fear of being accused of racism or of getting involved in politics. But a crime is a crime regardless of the colour of the criminal's skin or whether they're a politician. Lutfur Rahman rigged elections, used Imams to influence votes, intimidated voters and racially discriminated against non-Bangladeshis. He profited from his corruption and he did it literally under the noses of police officers who turned a blind eye because they were muslims and they didn't want to get involved in politics. All over the country postal votes are stolen, undue influence is exerted on voters and taxpayers' money is used to buy patronage but it goes uninvestigated because the police are scared.

The answer is to give wider powers to the Electoral Commission to bring prosecutions for electoral fraud. Whether it is the Conservatives illegally overspending on elections by tens of thousands of pounds, Labour activists "helping" people fill in their postal votes and running postal vote factories or Tower Hamlets First getting Imams to tell people God will punish them for not voting for Lutfur Rahman and escorting people into polling stations to watch them vote these crimes cannot continue to go unpunished. The Electoral Commission must be given the power to launch their own investigations and prosecute those who break electoral law. The decision to prosecute must also lie with the Electoral Commission, not the politicised Crown Prosecution Service which has allowed so any MPs and other politicians to get away with fraud and corruption.