Cllr Helal Abbas has lost his appeal against a decision that he broke the Tower Hamlets Councillors' Code of Conduct.
On 6th December 2011, the Hearings Sub-Committee of Tower Hamlets Standards Committee (the body which enforces standards of behaviour of Tower Hamlets councillors) met to consider a charge against Cllr Helal Abbas (Labour Party member for Spitalfields & Banglatown ward). The charge was that he had “failed to comply with the Code of Conduct for Members of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in that he disclosed confidential staffing information regarding a council officer to a third party in September 2010.” The Hearings Sub-Committee finding was that “Councillor Abbas’ conduct represented a failure to comply with paragraphs 3.3 (b) and 3.4 of the Code of Conduct for Members.”
The Hea
rings Sub-Committee applied four sanctions: 1. that Cllr Abbas be censured for this breach of the Code; 2. that Cllr Abbas be suspended from his office as a Councillor for one week; 3. that Cllr Abbas send a written apology to the council employee concerned; 4. that if Cllr Abbas did not send a suitable apology, he should be suspended from his office as a Councillor for a further three weeks.
Cllr Helal Abbas appealed against the decision and sanctions to the First Tier Tribunal (Local Government Standards in England). In a decision of the Tribunal dated 4th April 2012, the Tribunal upheld the decision of the Tower Hamlets Hearings Sub-Committee and the sanctions it imposed. Cllr Abbas has a right of appeal against the Tribunal's decision.
•Update: Cllr Abbas's entry on the Council's “Meet your Councillor” website page has now been updated to indicate that Cllr Abbas is suspended – http://sps2ksrv.towerhamlets.gov.uk/meetYourCouncillor/MemberDetails.aspx?ID=12.
•The decision of the First Tier Tribunal can be found on: http://www.adjudicationpanel.tribunals.gov.uk/Public/Decisions.aspx