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Former mayor told to expect jail term
HE IS more used to wearing the chains and robes of the city's top job, but today another former Peterborough mayor is facing a stretch behind bars.
HE IS more used to wearing the chains and robes of the city's top job, but today another former Peterborough mayor is facing a stretch behind bars.Raja Akhtar was voted in as mayor in 2004 – but little did his fellow city councillors who elected him as the city’s first citizen know that during his election campaign that very year he hijacked votes in a bid to ensure he kept his seat.
Akhtar (48), of Newark Avenue, stood alone in the dock at King’s Lynn Crown Court yesterday to hear the jury return one guilty verdict from the four charges of forgery he faced during his month-long trial.
As the jury foreman announced the 10 to two majority decision, Akhtar showed little emotion, but there were gasps from the public gallery, which was filled with his friends and family.
Akhtar becomes the second former city mayor to be convicted of electoral fraud, after Labour Mayor Mohammed Choudhary was jailed for nine months in February over allegations in the same 2004 city council election.
Taxi driver Tariq Mahmood’s postal application forms were bought to Akhtar’s house, as he needed assistance filling the forms in.
But when Akhtar filled the forms in, the poll cards were sent to an address in Dogsthorpe Road, where Akhtar could hijack the votes, rather than to Mr Mahmood’s Gilpin Street home.
Akhtar could still face a retrial over the other three counts, after the jury foreman said it was highly unlikely they would come to an agreement over the verdict.
Judge Alasdair Darroch discharged the jury, and told prosecutor Alex Chalk that he would have two weeks to decide whether further action would be taken.
However, he told Akhtar: “You have been convicted of a very serious offence
“You heard what I said to your co-defendant yesterday, and a prison sentence is almost inevitable.”
Akhtar’s conviction follows the six guilty verdicts on forgery charges against fellow Conservative candidate Abdul Razaq (52), of Newark Avenue, delivered by the same jury on Thursday.
Both Akhtar and Razaq denied all the charges against them, and Razaq was cleared of two counts of forgery.
Mohammed Khalliq (50), of Foxdale, New England, the only one of the three to fail in his election bid in 2004, had already pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery.
The trio, who all faced allegations over the Central Ward council elections four years ago, now look set to face a spell behind bars when they are sentenced later in the summer.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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