Pendle deputy mayor threatened to 'destroy council employee' at event

Conservative Coun Mohammad Aslam faces the hearing over his alleged conduct towards a council employee at a Ramadan event in Nelson’s Ghausia Mosque in April 2022.

It is alleged Coun Aslam said he wanted to ‘destroy’ the employee and made a  telephone call suggesting a group of men come out to ‘sort’ things and ‘send a message’.

Pendle Council and Lancashire Police have been involved in different parts of the complaints, according to a council standards report. Coun Aslam has previously apologised in a police enquiry. But the council is now considering the matters under its own code of conduct.

He is separately facing questions over an election polling station row.

Coun Mohammad Aslam. Deputy Mayor of Pendle

The borough council’s chief executive and another senior officer first received the complaint last year.  The employee described Coun Aslam as an uncle.

The complaint is reproduced in a Pendle Council standards report. It includes swear words and the use of letter Xs  to replace the council employee’s name.

It states: “Last night [28th April, 2022] I was in Nelson Ghausia Mosque on Clayton Street from 10pm with a friend and his son, aged 14 years. It was an important night in terms of Ramadan when you seek forgiveness from Allah/God in the mosque. I normally stay till around 3am.

“At approximately 11.45pm, I was in the area where people take shoes off with my friend and his son. Coun Mohammad Aslam came to my friend and shook his hand, as they used to be neighbours. He looked at me and simply nodded his head in acknowledgement, which I returned.

“Approximately 30 seconds later he came back and stood next to me. He said ‘what can you do for those ice cream people?’. I responded out of respect ‘uncle, can we not talk about work here’.

“He continued to say that he was an MOT inspector and he always let people off with issues with their cars and let them resolve them later. He said you need to let people off and help them.

“I then responded to Mr Aslam. I could not discuss an ongoing investigation with him but advised him I always help licence applicants. He then replied ‘you have come here and make your own law up and upset my people’.

“I replied I don’t make the law. I simply enforce the legislation in place set by the government.”

‘SWEARING AND THREATS  IN THE MOSQUE’

The written complaint then states: “He then out of nowhere said ‘who the f*** do you think you are?’ which took me back.

“I replied ‘Uncle, look where you are (mosque) and what language you are using’. (Such language should not be used anywhere)

“‘You come here f****** making your own law up and took my friends licence for his shop on Barkerhouse Road’. (I clicked he meant Beer Hut off-licence)

“He then said ‘You got my son Adnan into trouble with the police two years ago at a polling station. I still remember that. I can’t sleep at night. Every time I see your face I want to destroy you’. His son, Adnan, had an altercation with another male outside a polling station approximately three to four years ago).

“I replied ‘Uncle, what are you talking about? I never got your son arrested for anything. I think your confused with someone else.’

“He then said ‘I’m going to get my sons here and we going to sort you out once and for all.’ I said do whatever you want.

“He then got onto his phone and was talking to someone and he said ‘ Adnan, get you brother and cousins to masjid and lets sort XXXXXX once and for all. Let’s send them a message’.

"My friend tried to calm Mr Aslam down but he wouldn’t listen and continued with his foul, abusive language and threats to me.

"My friend then went inside and grabbed Cllr Fraz Ahmed who is part of the mosque set-up and the nephew of Mr Aslam called Nasir. Both were told by my friend what happened and they both went over to Mr Aslam to go away.

“They came over to me and asked what happened and Mr Aslam’s nephew was apologetic for his behaviour. They said you go back in and ignore him. I returned to the mosque to carry on praying.

“I text my big brother XXXX as to what had happened and he rung me back saying ‘ignore him and go home’.

“I went home as I did not want Mr Aslam who remained in the mosque making more threats and shouting abuse to me. It ruined my night as this was one of the most important nights in the Islamic calendar year.

"I would therefore like to report Mr Aslam’s behaviour and threats made to me and would like it to be dealt in line with council policies and procedures. This sort of behaviour is not acceptable towards a council employee by a councillor regarding work.”

SUBSEQUENT ACTION

The Pendle Council standards hearing report states the borough’s monitoring officer wrote to Coun Aslam with details of the complaint, asking for his comments.

Coun Aslam responded and discussed the matter with the monitoring officer. However, because the complainant had also made a complaint to the police, the matter was held in abeyance.

In September2022, the complainant received an email from PC Andy Stafford of Lancashire Police.

PC Stafford wrote: “I met with Mr Aslam, where he admitted the offence, and shouting at you in a public place. I have issued him with a community resolution, words of advice. He was apologetic for his actions and any distress that it may have caused you.

“I will now be closing the investigation with the outcome of a community resolution. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this any further.”

'LOWER-LEVEL CRIME'

In an update, Howard Culshaw, the council’s monitoring officer, states: “The police administered a community resolution to Coun Aslam. This is defined by Lancashire Constabulary as a way of dealing with an offender which is proportionate to lower-level crime. It can be offered when the offender admits an offence. This means that in the present circumstances, Coun Aslam, whilst not convicted of any offence, has admitted that his behaviour was capable of constituting a public order offence.”

Mr Culshaw states the Councillor Code of Conduct says councillors

must always treat council employees with respect.

He adds: “Respect means politeness and courtesy in behaviour, speech and the written word. The complaint was about a confrontation between the complainant and Coun Aslam in a public area. The complainant is a council employee.

“In my view, it is not acceptable under the part of the code cited for a councillor to behave in a manner that resulted in the administering of the community resolution by the police. At a minimum, it is a breach of the code paragraph 10.

“Whilst the matter has been dealt with by the police, I believe it is also necessary for the council to consider the incident. My finding is that there is sufficient evidence of a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct.”

The standards hearing takes place on Monday, August 21, at 6pm in Nelson Town Hall.