This is a long post but we have to nail any guilty bastards once and for all. I am hoping the events of today may be the "Stalingrad moment" when the tide turns against some of these corrupt liars so willing to shaft people they purport to represent.
Now, however, I shall return to that perennial Skidder favourite - the Bog-gate scandal! This is another matter which West Midlands Police failed to investigate adequately or at all as part of the original enquiry but it raised its ugly head again when Cllr Ian Jones finally appeared - with lawyer to hold his hand (!) - before the Sandwell Council Audit Committee in December. I have to say that the questions and replies are pisspoor and large parts on the "grilling" of Jones are unintelligible even in the print version. I thus write this piece based on what I think are Jones's replies but if I have misinterpreted this I will be happy to print any further comment from him or his lawyer. It should be noted that my first blog about this scandal was dated as long ago as 8th August, 2014 and this matter is STILL under investigation.... And, of course, I am happy to assist any committee members who wish to discuss this matter further before the next meeting.
The basic facts are that Sandwell closed some toilet blocks and agreed to dispose of them in 2003 though there is still no evidence as to what, if any, attempt was made to market them for sale or to place them in auction. They just stood empty but years later in early 2012 a person suddenly made an offer for four blocks and three were sold.
The blocks were sold to Abdul Naeem Quyum (not to be confused with the other Abdul Quyum who has business connections with Cllr Mahboob Hussain). I made the allegation very early on that a lady called Jamilla Bibi had at least three children - Abdul Naeem Quyum (ANQ), Abdul Amean and Nigat Loreen. The latter married one of Cllr Hussain's sons. She is shown on the voters roll as actually living in Hussain's house for protracted periods from 2003. I am not aware of Hussain ever making any sort of declaration to SMBC about his connection to ANQ but, as regular readers will know, he does have severe but, usually, temporary amnesia (eg when his firm was bidding for a valuable SMBC taxi contract which he duly won).
As readers will also know, Sandwell has a huge highly-paid workforce but under the bent Cooper/Britton regime certain Councillors "ran" the Council instead, notably the late Smethwick Scumbag, Darren Cooper, Ian Jones, Hussain and Eling (and even though a senior Labour source said Cooper was "so thick he could hardly write a sentence"!). Jan Britton allowed this to happen because he was too weak to stand up to Cooper but we will examine in due course whether he was bent as well.
This threw an already dodgy council wide open to fraud. Instead of going through proper channels people could go direct to councillors to "do deals" eg. we recently saw that Labour's "Lord" Peter Snape is claimed to have introduced an ice-rink operator direct to Dickhead Daz with a view to "doing a deal".
It now appears that Cllr Ian Jones was the "go to" man if you wanted to buy some publicly-owned land in 2011. But he claims he was very busy with trying to get re-elected from March, 2012 and was "rarely in the Council House". Then in May, 2012 he changed portfolio and so was no longer in a hands-on role in land sales (although still on the Land Sales committee).
Even now I am not sure what his evidence is, in that he seems to have accepted that his office received one or two offer letters from ANQ or his related companies. And yet in one of my Freedom of Information Act responses on this from Jan Britton's bent paid service I was told "the offers were received by a council officer in Property Services". Which officer and where is the email?
We know that Sandwell's Labour councillors are stuck together like sh*t to a blanket but Jones flatly denies that he was doing a favour for Hussain here. If that is true, then he MAY (and I put it no higher than that) be telling the truth that he did not know ANQ was the bidder since ANQ used a couple of company/trading names before having the bogs sold to him in his own name. Something which caused no concern to "Sadwell's" Legal Department under now-disgraced Neeraj Sharma.
No-one involved in this scandal has ever claimed that SMBC made any attempt to market the bogs elsewhere when the offer came in. One might imagine that everyone knew that this was one of Hussain's "deals" and waved it through but I couldn't possibly make such an allegation. Still, another example of Britton's dismal failure to run a council.
Here it all becomes confused again. The disgraced employee involved in all this, David Willetts, undoubtedly had discussions with Jones and Hussain. It appears that Hussain again failed to mention that the proposed purchaser was related to him by marriage unless, as above, everyone knew it was a bent deal from day one. At this stage four blocks were still in play. Without getting any sort of formal valuation, Willetts himself mysteriously decided that the blocks should sell for £15,000 each and offered them to ANQ/ his companies for £50k (this again is extraordinary behavior in Britton's cowboy/girl outfit).
Now it becomes even stranger - one block was pulled from the sale and at this point both Jan Britton and our old friend Nick Bubalo were involved. On 18th April, 2012 a deal was agreed at £35k for the remaining three blocks. But just 6 days later Willetts claimed "members" wanted a separate valuation. The very handsomely rewarded author of the useless Wragge Report concluded that the members were Jones and Hussain but this seems incredible and is, in any event, flatly denied by Jones upon legal advice. Jones says he was about to change portfolio and had been fighting the election. He says he did not even know of the sale of the bogs until a year later and of the valuation until after that. It would have been a proper thing to do, if he had taken his eye off the ball during the election, to question what Willetts had done and to have demanded a valuation prior to exchange of contracts but Jones categorically says that he did not do this. Equally, Hussain must have known that £15k each for the blocks was a cracking deal for a relative (my marriage). We know he is a cheeky bastard (eg saying the Lodge St land sold by SMBC to his son at a gross undervalue was cheap because it was "f*cking sh*t) but surely he would not have risked a valuation which may have been adverse and was bound to delay the deal? Or perhaps he is so consumed with greed he thought his relative could get an even cheaper deal!
The Audit Committee must get to the bottom of this crucial aspect of the issue.
It is not clear whether Willetts himself instructed the District Valuer to prepare the eventual valuation and the Audit Committee MUST get a copy of the actual letter of instruction (The DV will have a copy even if SMBC have "lost" their own). This becomes important for another matter as we shall see. Then on 23rd May, 2012 the excrement hit the, er, khazi block as the valuation was for £130,000 - a mere £95k MORE than Willetts had already agreed with Hussain's relative! (In must be remembered here that Willetts was also very closely associated with Darren Cooper).
Another problem arises here in that the useless Wragge report is heavily redacted but there was email traffic between council employees "A9" and "A12". The second email is damning: "received further instructions from David [Willetts] via Councillor Hussain and Jones. The transaction you are dealing with can proceed as normal." Firstly, Jones is flatly denying he knew anything about the valuation and so he says this contemporaneous email between two staff members is untrue. He seems to be claiming that the odious Cllr Rowley had taken over the portfolio by then. Of course, if he did know and made the order...
But Hussain is also named. This documents claims he was aware of the valuation of £130K but overruled this and ordered a sale to a relative (by marriage) for £95,000 less. This was a major complaint made to West Midlands Police but, as above, Hussain enjoys their "special protection" and any proper investigation was pulled.
Jones complains that he can't remember every detail after so many years ago. The bogs were sold for £35k and one of them was later sold on for £40k on its own.
We then come to the notorious Radio WM interviews. My first blog on this subject was dated 8th August, 2014 and picked up by Adrian Goldberg. At this stage, the thuggish Cooper was slagging me off at every opportunity. Goldberg invited me and an SMBC representative on his morning show. Cooper refused to let anyone go on as he didn't want me to be seen as being in anyway "legit". Fair play to Goldberg (normally a Cooper apologist), he had me on anyway and SMBC looked very bad from the revelations. Thus SMBC contacted the BBC and demanded a right to reply. Again, Goldberg stood his ground and pointed out they had been the ones who declined to appear. Accordingly, he would also allow me on again. He didn't allow us to go head to head but kept us on separate lines. Jones started with a vicious attack on me straight from the Smethwick Scumbag's songbook - it was all untrue, I had a vendetta against Cooper and the Council etc etc. But he then made the bizarre comment that the valuation had been done AFTER the sale (see my contemporaneous blog of 21st August, 2014). Both myself and Goldberg expressed incredulity at this and asked what the point of this would be? Jones started to waffle that it was something Jan Britton's bent paid service did "regularly" - particularly when selling properties that had been hard to shift (????)
Following another FOI request it became obvious that Jones has told a massive porky live on air as the valuation was done before exchange of contracts and, as above, staff had been told to ignore it. On 6th November, 2014 I famously bumped into Cooper, Hussain and Jones outside the Kremlin (see my blog the next day, 7th November, 2014) and I asked Jones to one of his two faces why he had lied. He did the decent thing to try to save his neck and blamed staff saying he had been given an inaccurate briefing paper! (Nice Guy!) It also seems highly unlikely that Jones knew absolutely nothing about my allegations given the blog post AND my Goldberg interview the previous day!
But his story has subtly changed with the passage of time. As to the inaccurate briefing he seems to think this was prepared by Nick Bubalo (the very highly-paid Director who was very directly involved in almost every one of the bent land deals exposed in this blog but who claims he had strangely omitted to notice anything dodgy about any of them). He also claims that what he might have meant was that there was a distinction between agreeing a sale and exchanging contracts. He seems to imply that Britton's bent paid service regularly "made up" sale prices and only checked them out after a sale was agreed and was "subject to contract". If that is the case that is surely another nail in the coffin of the useless Britton. But Jones's comments here are academic since he insists he personally knew nothing about the valuation and nothing about it being overruled until much later - and presumably after the Goldberg interview as he is still seems to be relying on the "dodgy dossier" defence. Again, it is vital for the Audit Committee to get a copy of the briefing paper.
Jones has referred to finding out about restrictive covenants on two of the blocks which affected the value. He says he found out about these years later. Now there are restrictions on the Land Registry entries for two of the properties and so the Skidder asked SMBC right from the off for a copy of a key document - the "Agreement of 22nd June, 2012" but has always been denied it on the ground that it was "commercially confidential". Once again it is vital that the members of the Audit Committee see this document which is a legal agreement and must be in safe storage at SMBC.
If there are restrictions that affect value why on earth has Jan Britton's bent paid service not disclosed this when I have been on about it for well over two years? We must remember that Jan Britton's shower spent £1,200 OF OUR MONEY on the District Valuer's Report when a price of £35k had already been agreed. Whoever instructed the DV was grossly negligent if they failed to mention proposed legal restrictions that would affect value. The Audit Committee need to get to the bottom of who decided on the restrictions and whether they are actually material. As above, employees A9 and A12 clearly state that Jones and Hussain overruled the DV valuation with no mention of restrictions. Jones absolutely denies being involved. So Hussain, Rowley or someone else?
Even worse, when all the fraud investigations started we the people had to fork out again for a new report from commercial agents, Savills. It is not clear if the instructions were from SMBC or Wragge and Co for the purposes of their own useless report. If there were genuinely restrictions that affected value why on earth weren't Saville's told? The Audit Committee need to see the letter of instruction. If SMBC did it, the staff member should be disciplined. If an error was down to Wragges, SMBC should ask for the cost of the report back. In the event, Saville's agreed with the DV valuation.
Addendum- 19/01/17: A highly-placed "little bird" tells me there are no restrictions which affect value and wonders why Jones has set this particular hare running? But the Audit Committee still need to check this out!
It should be remembered that such restrictions are something of an Hussain "speciality". SMBC applied them in respect of properties of his close associates and then simply removed them without even charging legal fees let alone seeking to take a cut of profits that would then accrue. Yet again, West Midlands Police were advised of the removal of covenants on the former Sandwell Muslim Organisation premises in Church Street, Oldbury and at The Plough, Tividale but....yes, you know the score. This blog also showed that Tipton Mosque was given a whole "street" of demolished houses with a covenant for use only as "overspill" parking. The word is that, again, the covenant will be secretly removed in due course allowing the Mosque to develop the land and pocket the profit. Readers will know Hussain and Co were attempting the same trick with The Dartmouth Street Mosque but The Skidder's last minute intervention stalled the obviously bent deal.
David Willetts left the Council. It is alleged he received the customary pay-off with our cash subject to him signing a gagging clause to protect the Cooper/Britton regime. He refused to attend the Audit Committee which has been adjourned to see if he can be encouraged to turn-up. His version of events differs somewhat from Jones's. He undoubtedly knows more than he is letting on - particularly about Hussain's involvement. He also lied to me in a Freedom of Information Reply about the identity of the purchaser. Employee Anouk Wendling did the same and the Audit Committee should seek to interview her too. Britton ignored my very legitimate complaints about this which should become another disciplinary matter for the joke CE to answer.
Another matter arises from all this. If one makes a planning application there is a legal declaration saying, effectively, that the applicant owns the land and has the right to make the application. But the planning applications in respect of these bogs were submitted by our old friend Anthony Hope on behalf of "Bobby Jandhu". Now, at all material times, the Land Registry Records show that Bobby Jandhu had NO legal interest in the properties so these were false entries by Mr Hope. Who he? By an amazing coincidence the planning man of choice to the, er, Hussain family notably the Wellesley Road property (not in Hussain's name but WMP KNOW he has an interest) and for his son Azeem's properties at John St, Birmingham Road, Clifford Street and the infamous Lodge Street development. (See my blog as long ago as 25/09/14 when I suggested Jan Britton should investigate this anomaly). Of course, SMBC considers that some of the laws of England and Wales don't apply in the shit-hole Borough and Nick Bubalo fobbed me off saying that these clearly false applications might have been made "in error" and he was not going to take any action as no particular advantage had been gained. So what's the point of having the effing declaration in the first place?
(The address used by Jandhu in Wolverhampton has also been used by companies related to ANQ and his brother.)
Two curiosities arise from Jones's evidence. He says he has spent thousands of pounds trying to clear his name (which doesn't seem to affected his spending power noting his social media pics of his new chalet, Olwen's car and his party in Tenerife!) He was, of course, suspended from the Labour Party for a while. He went to court and was reinstated but the minutes suggest that incompetent Labour sought no evidence of his wrongdoing which, if true, would have made it rather difficult to defend their actions! A member of the Labour Party higher up than Sandwell claimed that Jones has been bragging that he has "taken" his own Party for £19,000* and my informant was not at all happy (I assume this would have been costs so would not have been profit to Jones - wife Olwen is the "damages" claimant!)
Jones also says that he was interviewed by the police. Now we know that despite extensive allegations made to WMP and months of alleged investigations they only managed to interview FOUR people under caution. The interviews lasted 4hr 4min, 1hr 55min, 1hr 48min and, er 15 mins respectively. Apart from the first, these are very short interviews. Now we have to assume that two of the interviewees were Hussain and his son, Azeem, so was Jones the third man?
The Police are being invited to investigate new matters but this whole can of worms must be re-opened. In respect of this matter alone they need to interview under caution Jan Britton, Hussain, Jones on any new information, Willetts, Wendling, A9, A12 plus Bubalo and anyone else found to be directly involved. They also need to interview Bobby Jandhu, ANQ, and Anthony Hope.
(We simply don't know if Britton is bent. His name is not on anything but his presence is like a gargantuan turd in a swimming pool and we do know that he was instrumental in bringing Wragges in on a VERY limited remit which mysteriously "helped" WMP to pull their own feeble investigation. This guy was at the head of everything for years whilst all the fraud and corruption was going on. Admittedly he was on his knees with his tongue between Cooper's buttocks for most of the time but the police need to question him under caution as to what he knew and, perhaps more importantly, what he claims he didn't know. You say you are innocent Britton so get off your arse and volunteer to help the police with their enquiries!)
No committee or council meeting would be complete now without the harsh, rasping sound of pathetic loser Cllr Yvonne Davies's voice attacking the new leadership of her own Party or sucking up to Jones. On Tuesday night at full Council she questioned the merit of continuing with this particular enquiry and asked if it is worth the cost. Yes madam - it is. Some of your comrades and staff have shafted the public and WMP have shoved a truncheon up our arse too. We want justice and we want it now so shut your gob Councillor.
* That's 6,333 of Corbyn's £3 keyboard warriors!
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