REDBRIDGE: Councillor corruption trial collapses

4:10pm Tuesday 22nd April 2008

THE trial of a former Redbridge councillor accused of corruption has collapsed after it was revealed that a translator involved in the case had previous dealings with the councillor's company.

The case had been brought to Southwark Crown Court after two businessmen alleged that former Valentines ward councillor Suresh Kumar had demanded £20,000 from them while he was a councillor, in return for promises to approve a planning application for flats in Ilford.

The men, Jasbir Bhogal and Rajwinder Rana, decided to secretly record two conversations with Kumar but it emerged in court that Kumar's expert witness, responsible for translating the recording from Punjabi to English, had bought tickets from Kumar's travel agency.

The witness, Baldev Sidhu, also revealed he had introduced his mother and brother to Kumar, telling them they would "get a good service because he was competitive".

Kumar, 44, of Eastern Avenue in Ilford, has denied three counts of corruptly soliciting a fee or reward for assisting in the processing of a planning application. The court was told that Kumar threatened the two men, saying that their application would be turned down unless they gave him the money.

Despite refusing to do so, the planning application was passed anyway.

The court heard that when Kumar continued to demand money the men got in touch with a reporter from the News of the World who arranged for their conversations to be secretly recorded.

But Kumar, who was suspended from the Conservative Party when the allegations broke in December 2004, told the court that the businessmen had set him up, and that they were the ones trying to initiate a bribe.

Kumar stood as an Independent in the 2006 council elections but lost his seat.

After the connection between Kumar and the translator was revealed, Kumar's defence counsel withdrew from the case, and Judge Peter Testar discharged the jury late on Monday.

Kumar now faces a retrial on September 1.