Milan Radulovic: Benefit Fraud

Milan Radulovic (Labour leader of Broxtowe Borough Council)

Milan Radulovic, Labour leader of Broxtowe Borough Council, is accused of receiving an overpayment in his incapacity benefit of £45,511.

This relates to allowances he is said to have claimed as a councillor, but did not declare as earnings, The council is run by a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors.

His case will be heard at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on March 16.

Mr Radulovic has served as leader of the council since the election in May 2011 and has served as a councillor in Eastwood since 1986.

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Warren Bradley: Ex-liverpool leader faces charge of perjury

Warren Bradley

The former Liberal Democrat leader of Liverpool City Council has been summonsed to appear in court to face a charge of perjury.

Warren Bradley, 45, of Woodsorrell Road, Wavertree, stepped down as leader of the city's Liberal Democrat party last April over electoral fraud claims.

He will be charged under Section 5 of the Perjury Act which relates to false statutory declarations.

He is due to appear at Liverpool City Magistrates' Court on 9 March.

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Respect - False Declaration

A HALIFAX election candidate who failed to declare his criminal record has appeared in court.

Sajid Mehmood, 36, of Saxon Street, off Hanson Lane, Halifax, admitted making a false statement on nomination papers.

He stood for the Respect Party in Park ward, Halifax, in council elections in May.

Sentencing was adjou-rned at Bradford Crown Court until November 23.

Under the Represen-tation of the People Act, anyone given a prison sentence of three months or more, even if it is suspended, is disqualified from standing for election for five years.

In 2003, Mehmood was sentenced to three months in jail for possession of heroin and cocaine.

He was also convicted of driving offences and received four months in prison in 2004 and another 16 weeks in 2005.

In August, the High Court refused to order a re-run of the election in Park ward after former Conservative councillor Mohammed Chaudhary Saghir petitioned the court for the result to be declared void.

UPDATE

A FORMER Calderdale Council candidate who could have faced jail today over election fraud has died mysteriously at 35.

Tags: Respect, False Declaration

Respect Party - False Declaration

A CALDERDALE Respect Party candidate has been arrested on suspicion of making a false declaration in last week's local elections, it was reported today.

Sajid Mehmood, 35, stood in the Park Ward, coming second with 1,147 votes to Labour's Arshad Mahmood who polled 1,500 votes.

According to reports today, Calderdale Council's chief executive and returning officer Paul Sheehan has sent a letter to every candidate who stood in the ward on May 3 stating that Mr Mehmood was not eligible to stand for election.

It said: "Information has come to my attention that one of the candidates, Sajid Mehmood, was not qualified to stand for the election because when he gave his consent to nomination as a candidate it included a statement as to his qualification for being elected, and in fact Mr Mehmood was disqualified from being a candidate because he has been convicted of an offence for which he received a term of imprisonment of three months or more."

The Respect Party claim to fight against electoral fraud and malpractice.

Mr Sheehan's letter also explained that under the terms of the Representation of the People Act 1983 an election petition could now be brought to challenge the election, this must be 21 days from the date of the election.

Legal costs in doing so can reach high levels.

Tim Swift, the newly elected leader of the Labour group on Calderdale Council, said: "I cannot see any grounds for challenging the result - we won convincingly."

But Paul Rogan, chairman of the Bradford and Calderdale branch of the English democrats, said he has alerted his national party officers.

"I hope that they will be able to instigate a petition so that the election can be rerun fairly and

democratically."

Leader of the council Ann McAllister declined to comment saying the matter was "procedural" rather than political.

Mr Mehmood, who is married with five children, was a Labour Party member in the late 1990s but stood for the Conservatives in Mixenden in 2002.

He was the former chief executive of Calderdale Advice Centre in Halifax and runs a grocery shop on Gibbet Street. He is a parent governor at Mount Pellon Junior and Infant School.

A police spokesman said: "A 35-year-old man from the St Johns area of Calderdale has been arrested on suspicion of making a false declaration. He was released on bail pending further inquiries."

A Respect spokesman said: "If the returning officer is correct and the police charge him then that is that, but we impose the strictest possible standards on all our candidates. Respect has led the fight against electoral fraud and malpractice."

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