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| £23K bill, despite winning
battle |
THE leader of the opposition is facing a mammoth £23,000
legal bill after City Hall refused to reimburse his legal costs
following a Standards Board inquiry.
Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg was earlier this year cleared of bringing
Westminster Council into disrepute by the Standards Board Adjudication
Panel.
It ruled that information he leaked to the press regarding the council’s
‘go-slow’ in recovering the surcharge owed by Dame Shirley
Porter for her part in the ‘Homes for Votes’ scandal had
been done in the public interest. But at a meeting on Wednesday
night the council decided not to reimburse the £23,000 of
a £46,000 legal bill for which Cllr Dimoldenberg is liable.
He said: “It is a shattering blow, but really typical of the
biased and nasty ways in which this council operates.
“My efforts helped the council recover over £12 million
for taxpayers and I have been found totally innocent of the ridiculous
charges. Yet the Conservatives have refused point-blank to reimburse
me for the huge legal costs I had to incur in order to fight their
politically-inspired witch-hunt.”
Deputy leader Cllr Colin Barrow and former leader Cllr Mervyn Caplan,
both Conservatives, voted against Cllr Dimoldenberg’s request,
along with independent member Colin Redmond.
Only Cllr Antony Mothersdale voted for his Labour colleague to be
reimbursed. While Cllr Dimoldenberg had to fund his own defence,
the Standards Board case, which cost £50,000 in barristers’
fees, was paid by the public purse.
And Cllr Dimoldenberg added that Westminster Council did reimburse
Conservative councillors who had been implicated in the Homes for
Votes investigation.
He said: “The fact that in 1998 they handed over almost £250,000
to their Conservative friends (former councillors Barry Legg, Alex
Segal and Miles Young – they were found not guilty of ‘wilful
misconduct’) who had to incur legal costs during the ‘Homes
for Votes’ investigation. And yet in 2005 they blatantly discriminate
against me shows how rotten and nasty Westminster Conservatives
really are.”
A fighting fund has been established for Cllr Dimoldenberg and he
said: “We will just have to have another fundraising effort.”
A press official said: “The Standards Committee received a
request and having considered the legal position, decided not to
approve that request.
“Fuller reasons for the decision will be made available in
due course.” |
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Angelino's finest are put to the test
WE came across Angelino Wines, sandwiched between two colourful and
aggressively self-promoting Australian wine sellers, at Islington’s
London Wine Event at the end of October.
Its owner is Farrell Anglin, whose imagination was caught by a lecture
on the history of wine making at Southgate College.
FULL STORY
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