Mayor of Camden taken off civic jobs

Published: January 29, 2010

EXCLUSIVE by RICHARD OSLEY

MAYOR of Camden Omar Faruque Ansari will be stopped from attending civic engagements by a council order.

Engagements instead will be carried out by his deputy Lulu Mitchell, the Conservative councillor.

The move to cancel and amend dates in diary came after Cllr Ansari defiantly declared his innocence against benefit fraud allegations and vowed to hold onto the mayoral chain. "If someone has made a mistake with an allegation, it is their mistake, not mine," he said on Wednesday. "I will stay on as Mayor."

He was arrested at the Town Hall on Monday but released without charge while the Department for Work and Pensions continues its investigation. Later suspended by the Liberal Democrats, he is now listed as an 'independent' councillor.

Cllr Ansari has accused the Lib Dems of not listening to his story and for failing to support him and has ignored suggestions that he should step down as Mayor to concentrate on the case. With no sign of him changing his mind, the council are now altering the mayor's diary and the work of officials in the mayor's parlour will switch to focussing on Cllr Mitchell's engagement  at community events.

A council press statement said: "Camden Council has not, despite a number of indications to the contrary, received the resignation of Councillor Faruque Ansari from the position of Mayor and therefore and he remains in post as  Mayor of Camden. While it is acknowledged that Councillor Ansari refutes the allegations which have yet to be proven, experience over the last few days has indicated that the current situation is detrimentally impacting upon the functioning of the Mayoralty. It is important that the Mayoralty can continue to function properly for the benefit of the borough and its residents."

It added: "Therefore, pending any significant change in the current position, Councillor Ansari will not be carrying out any Mayoral engagements. Arrangements will be made by the Mayoral office to cover existing and future engagements. The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Lulu Mitchell has kindly agreed to take a more active role. The Mayor’s term of office will in any event come to an end at the next annual meeting of the Council in May."

SEE ALSO:

I WILL STAY ON, PLEDGES CAMDEN MAYOR

CONFUSION OVER MAYOR'S POSITION AFTER BENEFIT FRAUD INVESTIGATION

MAYOR: I'M NO BENEFITS CHEAT AND I WILL CLEAR MY NAME

CNJ EXCLUSIVE: LIBERAL DEMOCRATS SUSPEND MAYOR OVER BENEFITS INVESTIGATION