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The fairy tale
In 2015 Mayor Lutfur Rahman is kicked out of office after being found guilty of corruption and rigging the 2014 Mayoral election. Labour’s John Biggs becomes Mayor after winning the subsequent re-run of the election promising to clean the borough up once and for all. After being elected a clean-up project is created by Mayor Biggs that will rid Tower Hamlets of corruption and all is well.
The reality
Mayor Rahman is kicked out of office, John Biggs is elected Mayor and initiates a ‘clean-up’ project which is in fact a cover-up for the extensive criminality of council officers during the Rahman administration.
A dedicated investigator is tasked with looking to any allegations of corruption, but when he begins to expose the true scope of the corruption he is dismissed.
Despite finding credible evidence of corruption by numerous council officers there are no subsequent prosecutions or convictions.
After much discussion the evidence bundle produced at his employment tribunal for unfair dismissal is released to the media and is found to contain a significant amount of evidence of corruption despite being heavily redacted. We call the bundle the ‘Poplar Papers’.
Despite numerous allegations the ‘clean-up’ project finds none worthy of pursuing and there are no subsequent prosecutions or convictions.
Why?
