Bid to ease Mayor Omar Faruque Ansari out for the count
Published: 8 April 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY
THE Mayor of Camden has been urged once again to resign over a benefits investigation because his tenure of the office potentially places him at the forefront of next month’s election proceedings.
Councillor Omar Faruque Ansari denies any wrong-doing but has yet to get the chance to clear his name in court. He faces three criminal charges after an investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions into payments made to him in respect of a neck injury.
With the case unresolved, Conservative councillors are worried that he is still named as the “returning officer” for Camden’s General Election counts, a job which involves him publicly announcing the results of the ballots on stage.
Tory leader Councillor Andrew Marshall said: “This is a very unfortunate situation. I urge Cllr Ansari for one last time to resign in the interests of the borough and ask him to think whether it is right for someone facing criminal charges to be the returning officer in a General Election. If a Returning Officer in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere was in this situation, our newspapers and commentators would have a field day. This would be an embarrassment for Camden that Cllr Ansari can still head off by resigning now, and his Lib Dem colleagues should make one last try at persuading him.”
Camden has found itself in the grip of a constitutional fix since Cllr Ansari was arrested at the Town Hall in January.
Although suspended by the Lib Dem group, he decided against officially resigning as Mayor. Normal mayor’s parlour support services were later withdrawn and deputy Mayor Councillor Lulu Mitchell has carried out ceremonial duties.
Cllr Ansari suffered a heart attack days after his arrest and has been on sick leave for several weeks. If he is not well enough to do the job, the responsibility would fall to council chief executive Moira Gibb on May 6.
Liberal Democrat council leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said he had not been able in recent days to get in touch with Cllr Ansari, who is not standing for re-election as a councillor for Kentish Town. “The view of the group was to try and persuade him that it was in his interests for him concentrate on the legal proceedings,” Cllr Moffitt added.