Camden Mayor: 'Sick leave' will prevent him from chairing next big meeting

Wednesday February 24, 2010

By RICHARD OSLEY

CAMDEN Mayor Omar Faruque Ansari said today (Wednesday) that sick leave will prevent him from returning to the council chamber for Monday's full council meeting.

He said his recovery from a heart attack meant it was impossible for him to chair the meeting. Councillor Ansari, who has been suspended from the Liberal Democrat group on the council since his arrest by detectives last month as part of a benefit payments investigation, has not stepped down from being Mayor and is still officially the borough's first citizen. Part of the job includes chairing the six-weekly full council meeting which all councillors are expected to attend for boroughwide debates.

He denies any wrong-doing and has not been charged with any offence. Colleagues failed to persuade him to stand down from the mayoralty to concentrate on clearing his name while on police bail, which expires next month. In the days of confusion that followed, Cllr Ansari was struck down by a heart attack and spent several days being treated at the Royal Free Hospital. He is now recovering at home in Kentish Town.

Deputy Mayor Councillor Lulu Mitchell, a Conservative, is due to step up and take charge of Monday's meeting. She has been carrying out most ceremonial events since Cllr Ansari's arrest, without financial recompense.

Cllr Ansari said: "I am sick at the moment and have passed a sick notice to the council so I cannot be there for the full council." He is not expected to return to work as a councillor before May.