Sandwell Labour's Rouf on Skid Row!

Is Labour Cllr Rouf a liar? Maybe he is just a victim of the fickle hand of fate? Perhaps we should take a look at his. er, misfortune......

Back in 2004 Rouf filled in a legal Register of Interests Declaration with Sandwell Council saying that:

(a) he was a self-employed taxi driver (why does everything in Sandwell Labour revolve around taxis?); and

(b) that he owned 23 Wellington Road, Smethwick (who he bought it from, I cannot say just yet).

Maybe I should just mention here that in sundry documents Rouf is described as both Mohammad and Mohammed Rouf. I will use the former from now on.

Rouf legally declared that he owned 23 Wellington Road but perhaps he was forced by circumstances to sell it on at a poor price? My team are looking into this since the current owners paid £125,000 for it in April 2013.

In 2008, Rouf completed a new legal declaration saying that he was now unemployed. Well I have had a bit of that myself and it can, unfortunately, happen to us all. Fortunately, however, despite his unemployed status he now declared "a beneficial interest" (in short, an ownership, interest) in not one but TWO properties ie the aforementioned 23 Wellington Road AND 88 Shireland Road, Smethwick (ground floor currently occupied by Faz's Barbers with one or more flats above). Lucky fella!

There are persistent rumours that, despite declaring an unemployed status, Rouf actually had (and perhaps still has) a private hire taxi licence not with Sandwell but with Birmingham City Council. Clearly this cannot be true given Rouf's legal declarations (although readers of my recent blog dated 04/11/14 " Now What's Labour's Councillor Rouf Up To?" will note the curious and very recent declaration by Rouf of "self-employed" status to Companies House - contrary to his legal declaration via SMBC. One thing we can say about his former taxi-driving days is that he was clearly one hell of a popular guy! If you look at the Sandwell Council website you will see that he is almost constantly (and perfectly properly) excusing himself from his position on the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Committee when it comes to dishing out taxi licences etc to his wide circle of "acquaintances" in that milieu.

Lets give poor old "Mo" the benefit of the doubt. The poor chap has apparently been out of work for years and subsisting purely on his generous allowances from his Labour comrades at Sandwell Council. He has had to sell his home at 23 Wellington Road and move to 33 Trafalgar Road. Fortunately, it seems the family has been saved from destitution my Rouf's son, the entrepreneurial pharmacist, Mohammad Shauib (ring any bells, readers.....?) Not only did Rouf lose his home but,in these austere times he also lost his second property at 88 Shireland Road too - apparently in 2005. I don't know how much he got for his declared "beneficial interest" but it seems he didn't have to go far for a buyer since the current registered owner is one, er, Mohammad Shauib! I feel sure Cllr Rouf will want to say how much he got for both properties and I will be happy to publish that for him.

Addendum - 12/11/14 The curious thing here is that Rouf seems to have disposed of 88 Shireland Road in 2005 and his son put in a planning application in 2007 claiming to be the owner and yet Rouf was declaring a beneficial interest in the property in a legal declaration dates 10th July, 2008. Mohammad Shauib is the sole owner on the legal title WR26867 at HM Land Registry and so what exactly was Rouf's beneficial interest in 2008? Another one for DS Gilece to investigate?

Now I'm an old-fashioned sort of a guy and (until my recent experiences with Sandwell Labour) I assumed that councillors generally told the truth (or at least a version of it). Thus when I checked Rouf's current and VERY recent legal declaration in Sandwell Labour's Register of Interests I accepted on trust that, despite his - again - declared statement of unemployed status, he owned his current property at 33 Trafalgar Road, Smethwick. What else could I do? He specifically answered the question about whether he had:

"Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the Borough of Sandwell"

"33 Trafalgar Road, Smethwick, B66 3SE".

Remember, if you will, that this was a legal declaration made just weeks ago on 25th September, 2014. Now there is another question of the same legal form and here it is with Rouf's answer:

"[State] Any tenancy where (to your knowledge) (a) the landlord is the Council and (b) the tenant is a body in which you and/or your partner have a beneficial interest".

"None"

(Bit of an odd question, I know.....)

Well good for our "socialist" mate, I thought. He is on the rock'n'roll but has survived by slimming down from two properties to one. I am indebted to "Mr X" however, for being even more cynical about Labour Sandwell than I am and checking things out. Thanks to the information he supplied to me today I can tell you that Rouf does NOT own 33 Trafalgar Road as the registered owner as at 28/10/14 under title number WM946677 is, er, "The Borough Council of Sandwell".

Oh well, I suppose if the poor chap has not worked for years and has hit hard times it is only fair that his compassionate comrades should look after him and his family (despite his basic council allowance of £10,619.04 per annum AND his special responsibilities payment of £8,751.96p on top). Clearly it is absolutely right he should go straight to the top of the Council housing list and get a Council House. With a bit of luck he will qualify eventually for "right to buy" and I am sure the family will then rally round to ensure he has a "rouf" over his head into old age. If, however, the downward spiral continues, I am confident and relieved that Mohammad Shauib will be able to accomodate him in the 7-bedroom mansion he is building at Florence Road - on land sold to him by, of course, Sandwell Labour!

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