The Labour Party in Harrow is preparing for crisis talks after it emerged that one of its candidates was convicted of defrauding the council he is seeking to be elected.
Labour were "unaware" that a candidate put forward by them for election is a self-confessed council tax cheat.
The revelation that one of their candidates in the upcoming election was forced to wear an electronic tag by a judge after pleading guilty to defrauding Harrow Council in 2007 has left the party's leader preparing for crisis talks with those responsible for selecting him.
Yogalingam Dayanamby will be announced as a candidate in the Canons ward later by Labour, and has already been featured in their manifesto, however what the party did not know was that he has previously been found to have falsely claimed £811.93 from Harrow Council.
Over three years, the political hopeful falsely claimed council tax benefit after failing to declare he owned a second property, and was sentenced to a three-month curfew restricting the hours he is allowed out of his home in 2007.
David Perry, leader of the Labour Group, said, "The Labour Party was unaware of this revelation brought to light by local media and it was only bought to my attention on Thursday evening. (Yeah right)
"I have taken immediate action to meet as soon as possible with the candidate to investigate these claims.
"Any action we take will decisive and in the best interests of the residents of Harrow."
Harrow Labour have previously booted their Harrow on the Hill ward councillor David Gawn, now an independent, after he admitted attempting to cash two cheques totalling £10,000 from multiple sclerosis sufferer Dennis O'Brien to pay bills racked up by his company Community Arts and Media.
Susan Hall, leader of Harrow Council, said: “Since 2010, residents in two different wards in Harrow have suffered the embarrassment of seeing their Labour councillors receive cautions and criminal convictions for the possession of indecent images of children and fraud, so at least there can be a degree of relief that this was discovered before the election.
"I'm sure residents will make up their own minds about how it reflects on Labour to have someone who has defrauded the council and therefore taxpayers standing as a candidate.
Final thought.
Labour talked tough on benefit fraud when they were in power; will they now denounce one of their own ?
No comments:
Post a Comment