Naughty Councillors - Allegedly

In what I have to say is a somewhat surprising move, NCC has replied in full to my Freedom of Information request asking which councillors have been referred to the Standards Committee.

So, in no particular order the three alleged miscreants so named are as follows -

1) Cllr Brian Grocock.

We knew about this one, he referred himself after getting all sticky in the Nottingham City Homes mishmash.

2) Cllr Hassan Ahmed

It seems like, oooh, HOURS since we last wrote about Cllr Ahmed and he hardly seems to have been out of one sort of trouble or another in the past year or so. He was in the Evening Post only the other day because they'd discovered that he hadn't quite been truthful about his interests. And of course he was arrested (but never charged) over an assault which NCC obligingly kept secret until he was rumbled.

3) Cllr Mick Newton

A surprising one this as I hadn't heard a peep about it until I got the FoIA response so I've no idea what it's all about. I hear a rumour that he hasn't been seen for a while chez NCC which probably doesn't bode too well for him.

All three of these cases are still at the investigation stage and none have been completed. This really is pretty poor, not least for accountability but, as we have to recognise innocence before guilt is proved and obviously we don't know whether that will be the outcome, it's hardly a good thing for the individuals concerned either.

A surprising omission from the list was Cllr Mohammad Aslam who was at the centre of a major discrimination case brought by the former Chief Exec of the Nottingham Black Partnership last year. I'd have thought that he would have been a shoe-in.