LESS than a third of the organisations which held voting power on a troubled race harmony group had any right to be members, an official inquiry has revealed.

Just 25 of the 87 affiliated groups on Burnley and Pendle Racial Equality Council met the membership criteria demanded, says a secret report.

The rest were either bogus organisations set up to wield votes for rivals in a six-year-long power struggle on the £130,000-a-year council, or groups that did exist, but did not qualify for membership.

Now the inquiry team of local councils which fund the trouble-torn REC is calling for a major shake-up of the membership structure of the REC and severe restrictions on the type and number of groups allowed to join.

The investigators also want the council's entire executive committee to face new elections next year, we can exclusively reveal.

The inquiry into bogus groups infiltrating the REC was set up by Burnley, Pendle and Lancashire councils and the Commission for Racial Equality after mass resignations following the annual general meeting which saw one faction, headed by new chairman, Dr Qasi Jehingar, gain power for the first time. The report, still, under private consideration but leaked to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, shows the investigators themselves were surprised by the depth of the power struggle by both sides.

Had all the groups claiming membership, been genuine, it would have meant 80 per cent of all local Asians being members of groups affiliated to the REC, they say.

The report questions the roles of faction leaders, Burnley councillor and Blackburn REC director, Rafique Malik and REC official Ejaz Hussain, who backed Dr Jehingar, in the struggle to introduce more groups into membership. .

There is strong criticism for REC's membership panel whose job it was to weed out bogus groups.

"The membership panel, far from being above the factional conflict at the REC has been a key vehicle for waging

and perpetuating it," says the report which describes the panel as a "key battleground" for the rival camps.

It says the panel became increasingly lax in checking out membership applications.

The inquiry reveals that in 1990 41 organisations were affiliated to the REC - 22 from the indigenous community.

But by this year there were 87 affiliated groups, with 72 coming from the Asian community.

The funding bodies are still arguing the best way forward and promise a public statement when final decisions are made.

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