Even by the standards [sic] of the moronic Labour Council in Sandwell (aka "Sadwell") and Jan Britton's dysfunctional paid service, yesterday was one extraordinary day.... If you were assailed by loud noises it was the sound of the pathetic "comrades" scraping barrels. But we do now know that Darren Cooper, the late wife-beater of Smethwick, was directly involved in the corrupt deal that eventually brought a large plot of land in Florence Road from public ownership into the hands of Cllr Mohammad Rouf's son, at least in the early stages.
Florence Road plot history - I have written at least 6 posts about the scandal involving this property, five of them during the grotesque lifetime of the late Smethwick Scumbag. I also made two Freedom of Information requests (FOI's) dated 8th June, 2014 and 24th July, 2015 - again both in Cooper's lifetime. Britton's bent staff tried to muddy the waters as much as possible in response to the FOI's and totally failed to mention anything that had happened
before 27th October, 2011 but this finally came out yesterday to devastating effect.
The deeply corrupt Labour Council bought 8 houses in Poplar Grove for a price in the region of £200,000 (hold that figure in your minds please dear readers). They incurred legal costs in buying the houses and then used taxpayers' cash to demolish them leaving a nice clear site apart for an electrical substation.
A number of people have spoken to or contacted me to say that they were interested in acquiring the plot but were fobbed off by members of Jan Britton's bent staff. A favourite "excuse" was that there were (fictitious) "problems" with moving the substation.
Many local authorities routinely used auctions at this time to dispose of surplus land but Sandwell preferred a more, er, fluid approach usually involving "sealed bids" and other methods (eg see Boggate scandal. Of course, in Boggate bent Sandwell employees obtained a professional valuation but ignored it!)
As far as I can tell the Director of Strategic Resources, Stuart Kellas, had been given delegated powers to sell this plot but he did not obtain any sort of valuation. The property was then put in auction with a reserve of, er, £45,000 (remember that it cost the taxpayer way over £200,000.) It is not known who arrived at this low figure or how.
The plot was actually entered into auction in March, 2011 (seemingly with the substation in situ) but then the old wife-beater Cooper told Cllr Jones that there was other interest in the property and that there was someone willing to pay over £45,000. He told Jones to remove the property from the auction. Staff were notified and the plot removed. This was on or around 24th February, 2011.
That last paragraph is the ENTIRE case against Jones in Eling's politically-motivated standards witch-hunt. The very expensive London barristers employed by us taxpayers to nail Jones appear to accept that Dickhead Daz himself abused his powers in asking that the plot be sold elsewhere as the Council had already given delegated powers to Kellas. But these guys are London-based lawyers who are obviously completely unaware of the "Sandwell Labour" way of doing things.
As was shown in the Wragge Report and in a recent High Court Judgment the Labour dictatorship are "the bosses" and "run the show". The joke "Chief Executive" Jan Britton permits this course of conduct. As this blog has said many times this is a recipe for disaster and fraud. The Sleazy Socialists are routinely ignoring so-called professionals employed by SMBC to do their own thing. As most of them are frighteningly thick - The Scumbag particularly - the authority has grossly under-performed for a mere 43 years.
Before they fell out and Cooper sacked him, Kellas was another "yes-man" of the first order. It is said that he sometimes drank with the Scumbag. It is not clear whether he was ever consulted on this and whether HE agreed to this course of action. Something for the police to investigate if they ever pull their finger out and properly investigate this shambles.
Had the land been sold at auction (provided it was properly presented and marketed) that would have been an effective disposal which, because of its public nature, would not generally be susceptible to legal challenge. But even the barristers are coy about this only saying that the auction "could have" resulted in "best value" being achieved. But no-one can possibly know. Sandwell's supposed "Socialists" had a collective policy NOT to use auctions most of the time (for reasons that they have never explained - I wonder why?) The fact is that Kellas and/or his staff had put a reserve of £45,000 on the land. If just one person bid this and there was no contest at the auction that is the sum the taxpayer would have received
less the auctioneers fees and that would have been that (I personally lost several hundred pounds at auction recently and it is
not always the best method of disposing of assets).
Here the plot thickens. Dickhead Darren Cooper knew who the person was that wanted to buy the plot. It now transpires from information hitherto kept secret by Jan Britton that it was one Ashfaq Ahmed. I am willing to bet this is the same guy on the electoral roll at 88 Shireland Road with, er, Mohammad Rouf and his son Mohammed Shauib (who eventually bought the plot.)
I have sent this email today to Cllr Rouf and will let you know when he responds:
Dear Mo,
THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION
What is your relationship with Ashfaq Ahmed. I know he was living at
88 Shireland at one point.
Jules
It is vitally important to note here that SMBC accept completely that Jones was told the identity of the prospective purchaser but did
NOT know who he was and did
NOT know he was connected to Rouf. Clearly the late Cooper did. (By the way, it is not known whether this Ashfaq Ahmed is the same person from Smethwick of that name who was imprisoned for serious drug-dealing offences. Darren Cooper, a man mysteriously beloved by the current Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, was known to be an habitual drug-user as was (is?) someone close to him.)
It seems to be the case of the two mega-expensive London legal eagles that Jones (and Cooper) breached the code of conduct simply by asking staff to remove the plot from auction. This is ridiculous. If they are relying on them overruling Kellas then they need evidence to that effect and to also legally prove that Councillors can NEVER EVER ask staff to take a particular course of action once delegated powers have been conferred - a potentially ridiculous course of action as situations change. (See further below.)
It also seems to have been overlooked that properties are withdrawn from auctions all the time when people make direct offers and for a range of other reasons. At the point of withdrawal the costs of SMBC would have been negligible. If it transpired that an alternative disposal could not be achieved the matter could simply be put back into the next auction. The sale may have been delayed for a few months but if there was a proper alternative offer that seems reasonable (see further below). Indeed, Jones was specifically told of a better offer from a person he did not know - had he refused the Leader and insisted on the auction it might be that the prospective purchaser would have been in a position to complain that the Council had failed to get best value by refusing to consider his offer (although he would have had a chance at auction of course and might have got a bargain. Here though, we now know exactly what Cooper was up to.)
The second allegation against Jones is that he failed to "consider" best value
at this point in time. But surely he is entitled to assume that professional employees would assess any possible alternative deal and, of course, very senior employee Kellas would have to approve the outcome of the negotiations and order the final sale? It was specifically NOT his position to decide on the offer and he didn't. All this is of course, dancing on a pin-head as Eling and associates are determined to shoot the messenger who was merely passing on instructions from a "leader" who was a vicious bully, and whom the entire feeble cohort of Sadwell Councillors cowered before. They all bowed to his demands eg Jedward kept his head down to save his Fire Authority chair. How many of them ignored this blog and all the fraud allegations because they just wanted to keep their allowances? Can you imagine the colour of a feeble person like Piper's pants if he ever had to face up to the thuggish oaf? Like the others he steered well clear.
Let us assume - reasonably - for one moment that there were plenty of bent staff prepared to do Cooper's bidding and happy to defraud the public by selling the plot to his nominated purchaser. Unless the price was under the £45,000 then Jones's actions in asking staff to look at an offer which he had been told was in excess of the auction reserve price would have resulted in a GAIN for the Council in strict terms (though dodgy circumstances.) It would have saved the auction fees. He specifically did
NOT ask staff to consider offers
less than the reserve price which would, of course, have been a very different matter. He just asked them to remove the plot from auction and seemingly asked staff to try and do a better deal with a named buyer whom it is accepted he did NOT know (though Cooper did.)
Jan Britton's bent staff kept all this quiet. There was no mention whatsoever of any attempt to sell the land before 27th October, 2011. But as we saw in the Eling/Marshall papers the Spunk Brothers have engaged in a colossal campaign against, inter alia, Ian Jones and Jan Britton permitted them access to taxpayer-funded staff to further their vendetta against him and use public money to trawl through records trying to find any scrap of incriminating evidence against Jones. And believe me - this is the tiniest of tiniest scraps. But it was them and their grovelling associates on the Audit Committee who purported to discover this nonsense. Eling and Marshall were trying to drop Rouf in it at this point (January 2017) rather than Jones (and I am told that Rouf is a "dead-man walking" as far as his Council seat is concerned):
(Interestingly Eling and Marshall - two cheeks of the same shit-smeared arse - also make an allegation about the conduct of Jan Britton's staff although it is not clear here whether they mean they were undervaluing properties fraudulently or just because of the incompetence that runs through the staff from the top down.)
It is accepted by SMBC that Jones had no further dealings in the negotiation with Ahmed whatsoever (nor with anyone else for that matter). As far as I can tell, they say he had no further participation concerning the plot but this is NOT true and that is vitally important. Just a mention before I get onto that but this was a particular period when SMBC staff were lying to prospective purchasers. A number of people told The Skidder that they were ringing to ask why the property was not going into the auction and were being told the bollocks about the substation or that there were "legal issues"! There can be no doubt that some staff were in on the fraudulent plan.
As above, the lawyers you are paying so handsomely seem to suggest - ridiculously - that once Kellas had delegated powers that was that. So what ACTUALLY happened? For reasons unknown (but WMP will need to investigate) the sale to Rouf's relative/associate Ahmed did not proceed. Kellas could have simply put this matter back into auction at this stage but didn't (nothing to do with Cllr Jones and for reasons he needs to explain.) Rather the bent employees decided to set up a new scheme to sell individual building plots with the intention of getting these to members of the public, rather than developers. It is not clear where the political impetus came from for this scheme but it was NOT Cllr Jones. At this stage an unknown person included this specific Florence Road plot into this scheme - clearly seeking the approval of councillors to override Kellas's delegated authority. The comrades specifically did NOT want to sell these plots by auction but by sealed bids. The scheme included a provision that all bidders had to pay a non-refundable fee to enter into the process. But this being Sandwell where politicians must ALWAYS have the final say in all matters these f*cking con artists decided to add an extra twist. The sales would be by sealed bids but the Labour greasers specifically reserved the right allowed by law for them NOT to accept the highest bid where the value of the property was less than £2m (this is on the SMBC website)!!!!! The point here, of course, is that Kellas's delegated authority was, in fact, overruled and this plot added to a scheme where best value did NOT have to be achieved if the comrades decided otherwise. The scheme must have been discussed for some time as it was part of Cabinet Forward Plan Ref JE010. And the authority to sell the plot either via sealed bids or, if none were forthcoming, by terms agreed by Nick Bubalo was taken away from Kellas and given to Bubalo and Sharma (who both appear in virtually every bent deal investigated in this blog!)
But this scheme had to be approved and so it was put before the Asset Management and Land Disposal Committee on 27th October, 2011. Cllr Ian Jones now does appear again since he agreed the scheme on that date. Cllr Hussain voted similarly - he declared no interest (being a relative of Cllr Rouf although to be fair SMBC say that the Ahmed bid had fallen through at that stage.) And the final person on the Committee that day? Yes, folks - none-other than Steve "The Milkman" Eling - the man behind this crazed vendetta!
It is not accepted at this stage that Cllr Jones committed any offence in February, 2011. If he did it was of the most trivial and technical kind. Even if he had the tiniest element of culpability - and it is difficult to see how he did - this ended either when staff - including Kellas - rejected the Ahmed bid and could have put the plot back into auction or, at the very latest, on 27th October, 2011 when the AMLD - including The Milkman himself - voted to set up a new legal (if bad) scheme. The scheme was then approved by the Cabinet on 9th November, 2011 with Eling was present yet again (although they got the date of the committee wrong). The AMLD decision was approved by the full Council on 29th November, 2011 - minute 115/11. People agreeing not to auction this specific plot were two of The Milkman's puppets on the Audit Committee who set this hare running, Cllrs Piper and Jaron. Of course, Spunk Brother Eling also agreed for the third time that this plot should be sold via the new scheme and not by auction as did, er, Cllrs Lewis, Shackleton and Trow - three of the four hanging committee yesterday out to shaft Jones. Oh yes, and other keen supporter was Cllr Mohammad Rouf.....
So according to Eling and his cronies, Jones's career must be finished as he took a property out of an auction because the late Cooper told him there was a better offer in. He had no involvement with further specific negotiations which fell through. Eling himself then
legally agreed with Jones to a different method of disposal. Three members of the Standards Committee also agreed that the specific plot should be sold other than by auction. Then the whole Council did. WTF is going on here?????
SMBC accept that Jones had no further involvement in this matter which, of course, ended very happily for the Rouf family. People who talked to The Skidder said that when asking about the possibility of buying the land no member of staff EVER mentioned a sealed bid process nor anything about a £75 fee. Even though there was considerable local interest in the property mysteriously only THREE bids were received. One of the bidders had not paid the fee and was excluded. Happily the winning bid at £65,000 was, by an amazing coincidence, from Cllr Rouf's son - Mohammed Shauib.
The Police now have to investigate this properly. There was fraud here and they must look afresh at the matter - particularly in the light of the new evidence. The one thing that is certain is that the fraudster was NOT Cllr Jones. But even with no direct involvement the fact is that had the land only sold on reserve at auction, the taxpayer would have been £20,000 out of pocket. The name Willetts appears in this case too and he should be invited in by the Cowards in Blue for a chat!
Jan Britton deliberately decided to exclude this saga from the Wragge investigation. He was totally in the thrall of Cooper. Did he know that this deal was bent? He needs to be interviewed under caution on this and numerous other matters. But this was gross incompetence at the very best and Eling should be taking appropriate disciplinary action against him.
There are other matters that require attention from Cooper's mate, the Chief Constable, as set out in other blogs. How did Rouf get the council house at 33 Trafalgar Road when he had £125,000 in his pocket from the sale of 23 Wellington Road AND when he was claiming a beneficial interest in 88 Shireland Road (now in the name of his wife) even though he had initially "sold" it to his son. Why did he make false declarations of interest to the Council - potentially a criminal offence?
This whole scandal was in the public domain for 18 months before the death of The Scumbag but neither the Council nor the police took a statement from him. Why not FFS? Of course, everyone (bar me and a few other souls) were afraid of him and knew what he was capable of if you crossed him. At least one bent cop within WMP served as his "guardian angel." Cooper was a compulsive liar and corrupt and it is highly likely that he deliberately sent the order to remove the property from auction via Jones to distance himself from the bent deal he was setting up.
Before we move onto yesterday's very expensive fiasco, Sandwell Council are adamant that they put up local planning notices and there were no objections whatsoever to plonking a massive seven-bedroom house in amongst terraced houses. Yet locals say they never saw ANY notices. The first time they knew that the land had been sold was when Mo started work on the site! The residents of adjacent Lime Grove all say they saw no notices and were horrified when the giant property starting looming above their properties. They tried to get the hopeless London resident posh-boy and right-winger who purports to represent the area, John Spellar MP, involved and he did get round to writing a letter. Jan Britton pissed all over the poseur MP simply saying there was a "police investigation" [sic] and he couldn't comment. Spellar couldn't be bothered any more (if he was in the first place). Britton having seen off this clown by saying all the papers were in "lockdown" etc then said ,within just a couple of weeks, there was a valid contract with Mohammed Shauib and the sale would proceed on practical completion of the build regardless of anything else!!!
Regular readers will be aware of Eling and Marshall's hate campaign of industrial proportions against Jones and others. Having ploughed through all the above you may wonder what Eling and his cronies are doing trying to bring a Standards case against Jones on the flimsiest facts but it is worse because thanks to Mr Surjit Tour, the new Monitoring Officer, it is now costing us taxpayers a small fortune!
Mr Tour has only been in Sadders for a short time but is like a referee who wants to be the centre of attention in a football match. You will have seen his pisspoor response on the Costigan Standards complaint (more anon) and he very rudely refused my request to give oral evidence at yesterday's Standards Committee. Clearly he is setting up to play "the hard man". In this farcical case against Jones he presented the Councillor with a 400 page bundle of documents 12 working days before the hearing date (unbelievably SMBC say this case is "document light" lol!) Jones's solicitors are not expert in this type of law according to his evidence yesterday and he had, at short notice, to try and find new solicitors and funding. The solicitors requested an adjournment which was obviously completely reasonable but tough guy Tour refused. Jones only received a promise of funding on Wednesday but new solicitors said they could not take the case for a hearing on Friday. Mr Tour was told all this but insisted the show trial would go on - and indeed he pandered to the vicious Eling and arranged to have the hearing in the main Council chamber and to have it filmed. Quite honestly, if this is how Tour intends to proceed Sandwell's already rotten standing will sink into even further disrepute.
The day came and Jones turned up. He asked the Chair of Eling's firing squad for an adjournment. The expensive London Counsel (yes!) for SMBC said the facts were relatively straightforward and so Jones didn't necessarily need legal representation which was a bit rich when he was there from London together with a second London barrister and SMBC Solicitor Maria Price (the one who allegedly gave up a day's holiday to accompany Dickhead Daz to Steelhouse Lane Police Station on a private matter. Oh yeah!) He
also suggested, seemingly without irony, that the case was document-light fingering his, er, 400 page bundle! Jones's request was clearly wholly reasonable and Tour should have agreed to it but now he had caused the whole committee to convene. There were four SMBC employees in the chamber all morning plus Solicitor Price all at our expense plus two London barristers and the allegedly "independent person". Of course, four Cllrs had also turned up to do the dirty and were faced with all this. Cllr Lewis took the Committee into private session for well over an hour to decide whether to adjourn or not!!! (OK we know he is not the sharpest tool in the box but over an hour? Perhaps he was ringing Rotherham or Derbyshire for instructions "lol"!) The inevitable happened and an adjournment was granted with Cllrs Lewis and Trow looking like they were chewing wasps.
So not only is this whole procedure a total farce but now Tour is pissing public money up the wall to serve his new Master.
There are senior barristers involved here and they should really be giving SMBC proper advice ie that this case is wafer-thin AT BEST, the Council suffered no provable loss, the proceedings have been brought maliciously, there is no public interest in this matter proceeding as the outcome was, at worst, mildly delayed and the costs of this exercise clearly do not justify this show trial. Tour and Price as allegedly professional people also need to stand up to the elected bully boys and bring an end to this nonsense.
Bearing in mind what I have said above, it is difficult to see how Councillors who approved the sale of this plot by sealed bids can hear this case but that is most of the sheep. I will leave Mr Tour to work that one out lol!
A couple of interesting points came out of yesterday. I was forced into the balcony area where the sound is appalling particularly as I am partially deaf. I have written to the Chair and to the laughable Britton to complain about this (although the latter did nothing when I raised this previously).
The vendetta being pursued by Eling was very much a feature and there is going to be extensive reference to the communications between the Spunk Brothers and myself if this fiasco proceeds. It was noted that they were auditing a property sold by SMBC in Bason's Lane! More interestingly Jones referred to Eling's Derbyshire-resident
wife threatening to destroy him "and his fucking family" if he did not stand down in the his leadership challenge to The Milkman. This statement was also given in evidence in the High Court and I am told it was not challenged there. Interesting as The Labour Party are said to be lining her up for a safe seat even though she lives near Belper in Derbyshire!
Before the hearing I asked Cllr Ann Shackleton why she had failed to respond to emails concerning safeguarding and what she, as a School Governor, had done when she established a fellow Governor had filmed himself masturbating using SMBC-owned equipment. More anon as she is still saying nowt!
I was able to drop my Standards Complaint about Cllrs Eling and Marshall down into the Chamber during the adjournment and am pleased to say that it was handed to Mr Tour in person. That matter is now live. See also:
http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/technical-blog-standards-complaint.html
And in an interesting final twist guess who has put in a FOI request about the costs of this Tour de Farce - none other than someone who worked hard with Cooper to harass The Skidder and his wife:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cost_of_two_legal_persons_used_b
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER KIDDER!
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PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!
