Sunday sees the first ever UK "Corruptour" where for just £3 per head you can take a minibus tour of some of the Sandwell Council hotspots of corruption, cronyism and incompetence (just a couple of places left - details below).
This blog has repeatedly criticised bent West Midlands Police (WMP) for their protection of certain councillors and failure to investigate fraud and corruption throughout the Cooper/Britton years. But after 40 years of grovelling to Labour the Cowards in Blue are so controlled by the corrupt Council that a councillor (or councillors) asks them to jump and they simply say "how high?".
At least one of the so-called "socialists" (and I think I know who) complained to the police about the tour. It seems this may have been at a meeting on 23rd March. Now you would think that WMP had enough on their plates in a Borough riddled with crime to laugh this off but oh no! On Tuesday a Sergeant Badham [amendment - correct name is Sergeant Streatham] from Smethwick Nick phoned The Skidder and requested details of the route! I don't know what he had been told but WMP seem to have got the impression that the tour is some sort of act of protest. Fair play though, he was anxious to advise me that WMP didn't wish to interfere in my right "to peaceful protest" which is gratifying as I thought that was a given in our (partly) democratic country.
I thought that would be an end to the matter but I now understand that yesterday WMP emailed certain councillors concerning the tour. I have not seen the email (though a request is winging its way to Lloyd House) but what the hell is going on here? I have joked often that Oldbury is twinned with Pyongyang but.......
So stand up to this bullying and join our fun tour! Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com
Of course, visitors to the self-proclaimed dog-sh*t capital of Britain should take all due precautions especially as SMBC laid out a "ceremonial avenue" of six dog-turds near the Council House in Oldbury last week in memory of the late woman-bullying thug Darren Cooper!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE UK’S FIRST EVER
“CORRUPTOUR”
JOIN US FOR A UK PREMIERE - A FUN MINIBUS TOUR OF SANDWELL COUNCIL HOTSPOTS (SOUTH) OF CORRUPTION, CRONYISM AND INCOMPETENCE FEATURING VARIOUS ADDRESSES IN OLDBURY, LONDONDERRY, SMETHWICK AND WEST BROM!
MINIBUS LEAVES OLDBURY COUNCIL HOUSE AT 10.30 PROMPT, SUNDAY 2ND APRIL. APPROX TWO AND A HALF HOURS INCLUDING SHORT COMFORT BREAK! FINISH AT OLDBURY CH.
This is a strange tale even by "Sadwell" standards. Back in 2014 at Exeter Crown Court two young Tipton men, then 19, were sentenced to two years imprisonment each for sexually assaulting two 12 year-old girls (and placed on the sex offenders' register).
At the Court hearing the barrister for one defendant handed up a character reference from, of all places noting the nature of the offences, "Tipton Young Asian Women's Forum" - TYAWF!
We have seen in this blog how Sadders is riddled with small "non-profit" organisations that are highly secretive in nature despite regularly applying for and receiving public funds. I have asked the Leader of Sandwell Council to clamp down on SMBC doling out cash to bodies that do not disclose their constitutions, "trustees" nor accounts and I hope he will now do this noting what has gone on of late. Of course, Steve Eling may be reluctant to act because, during the disastrous Cooper/Britton era, many of the recipient organisations had - and still have - councillors on their alleged "boards" to ensure that the downtrodden local populace are suitably grateful for cash gifts and repay that thanks at election time.
This blog disclosed the involvement of Postman Prat, Cllr Tony "Fudgie" Meehan, in the "Friends of Fudgestock" debacle, the deep involvement of Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones and Elaine Costigan in the Wednesbury Celebrates scandal (of which, more shortly) and, just in the last few days, we find that Ian and Olwen Jones's involvement in the Hill Top Community Development Association is on the agenda before the Audit Committee on Thursday following certain allegations of wrongdoing (which, no doubt, will be denied.)
According to media reports the TYAWF alleged in the letter to the Crown Court that one of the sex offenders had been a "volunteer" at their, er, young women's organisation and that he was a thoroughly good chap etc etc. Informants tell me that this "volunteering" was untrue in any event and also that the young man in question is very closely related to persons involved in the administration of TYAWF, although that fact was, curiously, omitted from the "reference"!
It gets odder still. An informant has now stated that s/he signed the letter under duress and without understanding what it was actually to be used for. S/he has recently been to see bent West Midlands Police and told them about this but s/he is unaware of them taking any action to date.
I was told that some of "the comrades" may have signed the letter but those I have written to have declined to respond either to confirm or deny this.
Of course, I also looked up the TYAWF on 2nd March, 2017 to contact them and this was what I found on the SCVO Directory:
Even though Syeda Nessa is the contact point the emails have to go through her sister, Labour Cabinet Member and constant companion of the oafish Derek Rowley, Cllr Syeda Khatun at the Bangladeshi Women's Association.
On 2nd and 3rd March I emailed Khatun and the TYAWF asking for details of the relationship between certain individuals and the defendant, the nature of his "volunteering" with young women, a copy of the "reference" or, at the least, a list of the signatories and whether any report of the conviction of the "volunteer" sex offender had been submitted to Sandwell Council Children's Services (noting that SMBC fund Cllr Khatun's activities via the Bangladeshi Women's Association - including funds from Children's Services - and her BWA address is shown as the point of contact for TYAWF (see photo above). And answer came there none so that I chased Khatun and the TYAWF on 9th March. Still no response.
But looked what happened on 9th March on the SCVO Directory:
Now you see her - now you don't!
You seem to have gone very coy all of a sudden Councillor? Any comment please?
In the absence of a satisfactory response I have written today to Exeter Crown Court setting out all the information I have (including the identity of the principal informant with their permission) and requested that they investigate whether there has been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by any person. I am also contacting SMBC with regard to Child Safeguarding issues arising from this.
It looks like there is still plenty of swamp for Steve Eling to "drain" but I do wonder, given the allegations against Rowley which have apparently now been referred to the Cowards in Blue, whether it is entirely wise for him to be only recently photographed with the happy couple!
NOTE - there are only two places left on the UK's first ever "Corruptour" - full details below. Don't miss this folks.....
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER! Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE UK’S FIRST EVER
“CORRUPTOUR”
JOIN US FOR A UK PREMIERE - A FUN MINIBUS TOUR OF SANDWELL COUNCIL HOTSPOTS (SOUTH) OF CORRUPTION, CRONYISM AND INCOMPETENCE FEATURING VARIOUS ADDRESSES IN OLDBURY, LONDONDERRY, SMETHWICK AND WEST BROM!
MINIBUS LEAVES OLDBURY COUNCIL HOUSE AT 10.30 PROMPT, SUNDAY 2ND APRIL. APPROX TWO AND A HALF HOURS INCLUDING SHORT COMFORT BREAK! FINISH AT OLDBURY CH.
The Leader of Sandwell (aka "Sadwell") Council, Steve Eling, promised some time ago that he would be attempting to ensure that the out of control bent paid service under joke "Chief Executive" Jan Britton would stop playing fast and loose with the law relating to Freedom of Information.
The late Smethwick Scumbag, Darren Cooper, regularly railed against the Freedom of Information Act (either personally or via his pet social media troll, Andrew Hipkiss) whilst his head of the bent paid service, Jan Britton, caused and/or permitted many replies under the Act to be grossly misleading, incomplete (usually concealing information for spurious reasons), unanswered within the statutory time limits and, in some cases (eg Mr Willetts in the Bog-gate Scandal) completely - and seemingly deliberately, false.
Here was Cllr Eling speaking to The Skidder just last week after the full Council meeting (and what a difference in intelligence and attitude from the threatening, grunting sh*t-smear who preceded him as "Leader"):
But, alas, "good news" doesn't last long in Sadders - particularly when Tom Watson MP is involved. And so we come back to the case of Watson's puppet, Cllr Simon "Two Homes" Hackett.
Hackett recently faced a standards investigation in respect of no less than SIX allegations. Firstly, that he inappropriately disclosed information concerning a child gleaned in his position as political boss of the appalling failure that is Sandwell Labour's Children's Service to the late Smethwick Scumbag and others; secondly that he intervened in respect of a parking ticket to his wife; thirdly that he intervened in a proposal for the Council to buy-back his mother's flat; fourthly that he was caught by a SMBC warden urinating in a public place (and this was hushed-up as featured in my post "It's a Cock-Out" and others); fifthly, that he bullied SMBC staff and sixthly, that he failed to make appropriate declarations in respect of the second and third issues above.
It is noteworthy that Sandwell Council hand-delivered a solicitor's letter to my home threatening me with an injunction to stop me writing about all this.
It is very rare for those usually exceptional chroniclers of the misdeeds of SMBC The Halesowen News to take their eye off the ball but on 1st December, 2016 they reported a story under the headline "Cleared Sandwell Councillor speaks of delight after investigation finds no wrongdoing." They quoted "Two Homes" as saying, "they were malicious, politically motivated and untrue allegations". Former "Sadwell" Labour Councillor John Tipper weighed-in with "these allegations were nonsense....".
So let's drill down into this a little deeper.... Allegation One - far from being untrue the Standards Committee investigators stated in a draft report AND a "final report" of August, 2016:
"We find by either raising the matter at the meeting and or allowing a discussion to take place that Councillor Hackett has either disclosed or caused to be disclosed confidential information. The councillors present at the meeting were not entitled to be informed of the matter and for a discussion to take place".
"The information given to Cllr Hackett was given to him in confidence and the paperwork marked as IL2 Protect. This was disclosed at the meeting."
The investigators then decided that Hackett HAD breached the Code of Conduct:
"we have determined that the evidence..shows that there is a breach of the Code of Conduct in that a member must not disclose any information given to them as a member in breach of any confidence."
As we shall see below it is important to note that these finding were made after an extensive investigation and the report was prepared six months after the meeting complained of. Allegation Two - whilst Hackett was "exonerated" see my earlier post disclosing the discrepancies in Mrs Hackett's appeal against her parking ticket:
http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/mrs-hacketts-parking-ticket.html Allegation Three - again Hackett was exonerated but mainly because the Standards Committee investigators trashed the evidence of a very senior SMBC employee, Kerry Bolister. Hackett directly accused her of lying to the investigators: "Councillor Hackett denies speaking to Kerry Bolister and states this is a lie." Although his Mother eventually moved into his own second property he claims he knew nothing of any proposed buy-back and had not actually seen her for months at the material time. The Standards Committee report apparently disbelieved this stating in their findings of fact "it appears that the weight of evidence does suggest that he knew of his Mother's application sooner than he accepts." (!) Nevertheless he was "exonerated" and a nasty stain left on the character of Ms Bolister who no longer works for SMBC.
Incidentally, beleaguered Cllr Ian Jones also features in this little saga.
"The evidence of Chris Jones (the Street Warden) is clear, he was on patrol in the early hours of the morning...and observed a man urinating in a bus stop. He approached the man, who he observed to be intoxicated, the man was still urinating......Chris Jones took the man's details, which were given as Simon Hackett."
Following further corroborative evidence the investigators stated:
"Considering the evidence on the balance of probabilities the act did occur and on the balance of probabilities, Cllr Simon Hackett was the person who committed it."
He was only "exonerated" as he was not acting in his official capacity as a Councillor at the time. It was also found that ex-Mayor and Councillor Derek Rowley did not cover the matter up though there is no explanation whatsoever why Hackett did not receive a fixed penalty notice although staff "were aware" that he was a senior Councillor...... (The Council have recently reported certain unrelated allegations concerning Derek Rowley to West Midlands Police for investigation. I am guessing that Rowley denies the allegations.)
Allegation Five - we have seen other allegations that Jan Britton caused and/or permitted the bullying of staff by certain Councillors. Here, no less than FIVE employees gave written statements alleging bullying by Hackett. The investigators stated:
"There does appear to be a general feeling amongst the staff at Wednesbury in particular, that Cllr Hackett's approach does make some staff feel unhappy."
Whilst finding for Hackett on the bullying allegation the investigators said this:
"Cllr Hackett should be mindful that even though we have determined that this behaviour does not breach the code of conduct, his approach towards some staff requires some improvement. Cllr Hackett accepted in his interview that there could be some change on his part."
Allegation Six - no longer relevant as allegations two and three not proceeded with.
But what happened next? After all, there HAD been a finding of breach of the Code of Conduct in respect of allegation one after extensive investigations and interviews with a number of Councillors (including Tom Watson employee Cllr Moore, Cllr Crompton and the now rebel leader, Cllr Yvonne Davies. Alas The Turdmeister was unable to give evidence though, as a pathological liar, it would have been of little worth in any event.)
It seems, "final" doesn't exactly mean just that. It is alleged (and I have no proof of this) that after the "final" report was circulated Tom Watson MP intervened. Over six months after the event and a thorough investigation it is said that further "witnesses" suddenly made themselves available to the investigators. Whisper it softly but it is alleged one was none-other than "fraud-buster" Steve Eling himself. And so, in the light of the "new evidence" the charge against him was dropped.
Hackett took to Facebook crowing about his "innocence":
Despite the comments in the report as set out above a number of cheering comrades liked or commented on this post ie Cllrs Piper, Taylor, Gill, Giles, S. Hosell, Costigan and Marshall plus ex-Councillors Davies and Tipper.
Well.you might say, trebles all round! In Steve Eling's new "open and transparent" administration there can now be no problem in releasing all the documentation concerning this - suitably redacted in respect of the confidential information concerning the child. After all, Hackett has been found to have been as pure as the driven snow [sic].
It is not often that I ask my long-suffering readers to plough through the detail of a Freedom of Information Request but my request and the reply from Sandwell Council is set out in full via the link below and I urge you to take a quick look. Now why would Cllr Eling want to cover-up this whole sordid tale? He's a very approachable sort of guy so why don't you ask him? Meanwhile, it looks like I am going to have to head off to the Information Commissioner to try to force a proper and detailed reply.
NB - hurry to book the UK's first ever "Corruptor" - a fun minibus tour of the hotspots for corruption, cronyism and incompetence in Sadders - full details below....
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER! Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE UK’S FIRST EVER
“CORRUPTOUR”
JOIN US FOR A UK PREMIERE - A FUN MINIBUS TOUR OF SANDWELL COUNCIL HOTSPOTS (SOUTH) OF CORRUPTION, CRONYISM AND INCOMPETENCE FEATURING VARIOUS ADDRESSES IN OLDBURY, LONDONDERRY, SMETHWICK AND WEST BROM!
MINIBUS LEAVES OLDBURY COUNCIL HOUSE AT 10.30 PROMPT, SUNDAY 2ND APRIL. APPROX TWO AND A HALF HOURS INCLUDING SHORT COMFORT BREAK! FINISH AT OLDBURY CH.
The Skidder raised serious issues concerning the goings-on at Sandwell Parks Department with both the Council and bent West Midlands Police. In short, the principal allegation is that - for a considerable period of time - SMBC employees have been "over-ordering" supplies over and above what was required for the jobs in hand and then selling the surplus for personal gain. Whilst it seems a number of persons may have been involved in this, two particular names were paased on to SMBC and to the Cowards in Blue having been supplied by an internal whistleblower to this blog.
This blog has shown time and time again that corrupt WMP are protecting Sandwell Labour and certain individuals and, true to form, they have declined to investigate these issues (this failure is now the subject of an official complaint by me).
The Leader of the Council, Steve Eling, has though been making some efforts to "drain the swamp" (whilst feebly leaving the head of the bent paid service, Jan Britton, in post) and although very little has been said about this particular matter here is an extract from a document in the Minutes for next week's potentially explosive Audit Committee meeting:
Can someone tell me why this is not a disciplinary matter already and how, with "significant" sums unaccounted for, this is NOT a police matter FFS? Also, and once again, how did the very well paid external auditors KPMG "miss" this over a number of years?
We have pointed out before that Jan Britton had a very thin CV to be appointed Chief Executive of a large metropolitan borough but he DID have some "parks" experience. But yet again, he seems to be sitting above everything - this, bent land deals, dodgy tenders and much more - claiming he knew nothing! Even if this is true - he is the boss and should have known what was going on. He must carry the can. He will never have the decency to resign and so Steve Eling must now hasten him on his way and without a huge pay-off!
This blog has repeatedly called for Britton to be questioned under caution in a police station about his alleged "state of knowledge" during literally YEARS of fraud, cronyism and incompetence. When is this going to happen WMP?
(Incidentally, following two separate whistleblowers informing me that Jan Britton has his car repairs done at Sandwell Council's Waterfall Lane Depot you will be pleased to note that Steve Eling personally assures me the pathetic "Chief Executive" does indeed enjoy this service but that he "pays the going rate" - even when specialist engine diagnostic help had to be sought from a third party on one occasion. So that's alright then.)
NB West Bromwich Police Station will feature on the UK's first ever "Corruptour" on Sunday 2nd April - details below! Booking fast so book now!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER! Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE UK’S FIRST EVER
“CORRUPTOUR”
JOIN US FOR A UK PREMIERE - A FUN MINIBUS TOUR OF SANDWELL COUNCIL HOTSPOTS (SOUTH) OF CORRUPTION, CRONYISM AND INCOMPETENCE FEATURING VARIOUS ADDRESSES IN OLDBURY, LONDONDERRY, SMETHWICK AND WEST BROM!
MINIBUS LEAVES OLDBURY COUNCIL HOUSE AT 10.30 PROMPT, SUNDAY 2ND APRIL. APPROX TWO AND A HALF HOURS INCLUDING SHORT COMFORT BREAK! FINISH AT OLDBURY CH.
Book now for the UK's first ever "Corruptour"! The minibus is booked and the Skidder will take you on a magical tour of southern "Sadwell" with a fun commentary on the locations of corruption, cronyism and incompetence that have been such a part of the life of the Borough during the Jan Britton era. Only £3 per person. May involve occasional strong language and so probably not suitable for children!
We will be starting and finishing at the Heart of Darkness itself - Sandwell Council House in Oldbury and then taking a look at various sites including Hall Road and Florence Road, Smethwick, The Public and other buildings in West Brom (not forgetting, of course, the local HQ of bent West Midlands Police) before some real highlights such as McKean Road and Lodge Street in Oldbury.
Please print the poster below and use it to spread the word....
Booking by email only. Limited availability so book NOW!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE UK’S FIRST EVER
"CORRUPTOUR"
JOIN US FOR A UK PREMIERE - A FUN MINIBUS TOUR OF SANDWELL COUNCIL HOTSPOTS (SOUTH) OF CORRUPTION, CRONYISM AND INCOMPETENCE FEATURING VARIOUS ADDRESSES IN OLDBURY, LONDONDERRY, SMETHWICK AND WEST BROM!
MINIBUS LEAVES OLDBURY COUNCIL HOUSE AT 10.30 PROMPT, SUNDAY 2ND APRIL. APPROX TWO AND A HALF HOURS INCLUDING SHORT COMFORT BREAK! FINISH AT OLDBURY CH.
The Audit Committee of scandal-ridden Sandwell Council recently resolved to invite the writer to appear before it. It should be said that the Council have my home address and have directed correspondence and threats of legal action there (including by hand delivery) but chose to send the invitation - such as it is - to this blog's email address. But then courtesy is not a strong point with this sleazy body.
Here is the "invitation" from the s.151 officer and my response:
Dear Mr Saunders
At the last meeting of Sandwell MBC’s Audit Committee it was agreed that an invitation would be issued to you to meet with members of the Committee in order to discuss concerns you have raised about Member standards.
To this end, we would like to invite you to attend a private meeting with the members of the Committee.
I would be grateful if you could please attend the Council House on 30 March 2017 at 4:00pm; the meeting will be held in Committee Room 2, Oldbury Council House.
I hope this is suitable to you and look forward to receiving confirmation at your earliest convenience.
Thank you.
Darren Carter
Interim Director of Resources
Reply:
"Thank you for the invitation to meet with members of the Audit Committee which was emailed to The Sandwell Skidder email address.
From the outset, The Skidder blog has endeavoured to expose the corruption, cronyism and incompetence of the Council during the Jan Britton era. Criticism of the excessive secrecy of both politicians and the paid service has been a leitmotif throughout my numerous posts. Accordingly it would be rank hypocrisy for me to attend a "private" meeting of the sort suggested.
I appreciate that Cllr Eling and others are making a belated attempt to "drain the swamp" and that certain investigations continue - although at glacial speed. Equally, a number of matters raised in my blog posts have yet to be addressed. I am happy to discuss such matters with councillors or statutory officers at any time and in person if required. However, any such communications or discussions must be open to scrutiny by the people of Sandwell and beyond. My blog is not called "In The Public Domain" without good reason.
It is with regret, therefore, that I must decline the invitation.
Julian Saunders
(By way of example.....)
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
The simmering feud between the Eling and Jones factions in the "Sadwell" Labour Group burst into the open last night.
Cllrs Ian and Olwen Jones had the party whip removed for four months and Bob "The Hobbit" Lloyd for three months at a long and stormy meeting.
In the meeting it was alleged that those three councillors plus Richard Jones (son of Ian and Olwen) and his partner Richard McVittie (see posts passim) trapped a pensioner volunteer of scandal-ridden "Wednesbury Celebrates" in a room and berated and intimidated her for 30 minutes before she was rescued. The Jones camp are apparently alleging that this is untrue and a put up job. They apparently say the alleged victim is a Labour Party member close to Leader Steve Eling and evil Tipton Svengali, Derek Rowley.
Wednesbury Celebrates (WC - yes!) was formerly the plaything of Cllrs Olwen Jones and Elaine Costigan. They face a standards investigation at present in respect of an allegation they approved their own grant application for WC. Council investigations continue in respect of huge sums of rent WC failed to pay for the use of the Town Hall. The cunning comrades also used taxpayer-funded staff to write a Sport England bid for WC which paid out a huge £152,800 of which £105,000 was to be paid to Richard McVittie - partner of Richard Jones. (WC told the BBC McVittie was selected by Murray Hall Community Trust where Cllr Lloyd was the Chair of Trustees at the material time. Murray Hall refused to speak to the BBC - or anyone else - about this apparently blatant lie!)
West Midlands Police are - so far - refusing to investigate whether the Sport England and other bid applications were fraudulent in that WC had lied about the true state of their finances to gain pecuniary advantage.
It is understood that the three councillors are taking legal advice.
If - and I repeat if - these allegations are proven one assumes WC will take appropriate action in respect of McVittie - assuming he is still employed by them.
No doubt parents of children who attend Richard Jones's Five Star Performance Academy will also wish to seek reassurance that the bullying allegations against Jones Junior are untrue.
The row within Sadwell Labour has been simmering since the death of the late Smethwick Scumbag, Darren Cooper, when Cllr Yvonne Davies challenged Steve Eling for the leadership. Even vicious thug Tom Watson MP has been unable to bring the warring "comrades" to heel as the Davies/Jones faction refuse to accept the result.
Ian Jones took voluntary suspension from the Labour Party in respect of serious allegations against him but was reinstated in time for the thick morons of Tipton Green to re-elect him. He now faces further allegations of wrongdoing raised recently by the Council's Audit Committee.
As the Chinese say - we live in interesting times!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER! Confidential phone no: 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
The Hussain Family occasionally like to display their wealth and power with do's at Akbar's Restaurant in Birmingham. They enjoy the protection of West Midlands Police (WMP) and boast "we run Oldbury" but there is nowhere in that particular Sandwell sh*thole grand enough for the Patriarch of the McKean Road clan to lord it over his subjects. As the swag starts to roll in from the Lodge Street development (nice "clean" money) it can't be long before the poppadoms are being, well, popped.
Regulars readers will know that Cllrs Hussain, Eling, Hackett and Ian Jones determined to sell the vacant plot of land at Lodge Street, Oldbury. As with most of the dodgy Sandwell Labour land sales Neeraj Sharma and Nick Bubalo were tasked with the disposal. Eventually Jan Britton's bent paid service sold the plot at a knock-down price to Cllr Hussain's son, Azeem Hafeez, who also happened to be an employee in Nick Bubalo's department. (Incidentally, our old friend David Willetts was also involved in this matter.....).
When I confronted Hussain, Darren Cooper (the late "Leader" of the Council) and Ian Jones about this, Hussain infamously opined that there had been no corruption and the land had been sold cheap as it was "f*cking shit" - a view with which the Smethwick Scumbag enthusiastically concurred.
Hafeez put in a planning application on 30th December, 2013 with his agent falsely signing a declaration that Hafeez had owned the land for at least 28 days when, in fact, the corrupt Council did not convey the property to him until 2nd January, 2014. (The same agent made a similar false ownership declaration in respect of the Albert Street bogs - sold to a family member, by marriage, of Cllr Hussain - but Hussain's big pal Nick Bubalo told me this didn't matter which rather begs the question of what the legal declaration is actually for).
This major application sailed through the planning process - indeed the awful Roger Horton (father of the lying former Labour Councillor, Lucy Cashmore, actually eased the way as we shall see. We have seen time and again how the pathetic bunch of unemployed scroungers and other deadbeats who constitute the Labour Group in "Sadwell" repeatedly failed to scrutinise Cooper and Britton's disastrous regime and so it is worth setting out in full the list of Councillors who nodded this through:
Councillor Frear (Chair);
Councillors Ashman, Costigan,
S Davies, Dhallu, R Horton, P M Hughes,
Preece, B Price, Rouf, Tagger, Trow, Ward
and Webb. Councillors Peter Hughes and Olwen Jones were observers at the meeting.
(It is understood that Rouf is a distant relative of Hussain and so, therefore, of his son but he made no declaration of interest. He is a close friend of the family in any event but did not see this as a reason not to vote on this matter).
An objector actually turned up at the planning meeting - but Hafeez's agent assured the Committee that, inter alia, his client "had agreed to meet with residents to address concerns". None of the glittering array of Council talent present questioned the propriety of a council employee in Bubalo's department being left to address the concerns of taxpayers on his own planning application!
No reasons are given in the minutes but Cllr Roger Horton - in consultation with Frear and the "vice-chair" (no, nothing to do with Cllr Hosell "lol") - suddenly took it upon himself to try to remove this major application from the normal process. Instead of the full Committee continuing to deal with it, Horton proposed that the Committee delegate the process direct to Nick Bubalo! The above-named unanimously voted this weird proposal through seemingly without question. Many Councillors deny they knew what was going on under Jan Britton but this seems to give the lie to that! (Bubalo was very directly involved in all the bent land deals - and the corrupt Public debacle - but, like Jan Britton and Neeraj Sharma, has apparently yet to be interviewed under caution in a police station as to his state of knowledge when he was passing the corrupt transactions - or alleged lack of knowledge. This needs to be rectified.)
Bubalo granted permission for 14 three and four bedroom houses on the "f*cking sh*t" land and then helpfully amended the decision for his work colleague by changing one of the house permissions to five bedrooms.
And so, folks, this was the site yesterday:
The six semi-detached houses are complete and at least four are occupied. Hafeez bought the very large plot from us taxpayers for just £145,000. He used the McKean address of his Father on the legal documents (he used a different address in Rowley Regis on another Land Registry title). Four of the houses have sold as follows (oddly, one for considerably more than the others):
Of course, Hafeez has had the cost of building and marketing the properties but his gross take against his £145,000 purchase price already stands at £647,499 and he has still got 10 more expensive properties to sell! Not so "f*cking sh*t" then and the money is all legit as WMP refuse to investigate this.
Whilst the local Cowards in Blue suck their thumbs it is to be hoped the taxman/taxwoman will take a keener interest in all this. Hafeez set up a Limited Company, Broadwell Developments Limited (he is the sole shareholder) and to take the p*ss used the McKean Road address as its first registered office. He transferred the plot to the limited company for the same price he paid for it ie £145,000 and so if the taxman decides that was legal he will avoid any personal capital gains tax liability. He has borrowed to fund the building which will reduce his profit and his tax liability. (All this remember when he was an humble employee of Sandwell Council and receiving taxpayers' money.)
If, however, the tax authorities want to take a look at Broadwell's accounts they will be sadly disappointed. This from Companies House today:
Let us hope that when Azeem is ordering the naans at Akhbars he will invite his old work colleague and friend of his father's along - though lay off the rich stuff Nick!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER! Confidential phone no: - 07514 046661 Facebook: Julian Saunders Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
