A Tower Hamlets councillor has been charged with trying to sabotage a rape investigation.
Abdul Malik, the ruling Aspire party’s councillor for Blackwall and Cubitt Town, is accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The charge, first listed at Thames Magistrates’ Court last week, alleges he “contacted the father of a 16-year-old complainant of rape and told him to get his daughter to drop the charges against the male alleged to have raped her and get him out of custody”.
He is accused of committing the offence on January 23.
The case has been referred to Snaresbrook Crown Court for a plea hearing on March 14.
Cllr Malik, 50, of Mercury Walk, Poplar, has been elected in Tower Hamlets three times, in 2010, 2018 and 2022.
He is the chair of the council’s human resources committee and sits on its licensing committee.
He is also a director of Castalia Food and Grocery Store on the Isle of Dogs.
Tower Hamlets Council refused to answer questions about whether Cllr Malik was currently able to fulfil his role or whether any measures had been put in place to cover his usual work.
https://democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=2009
“Due to legal proceedings being active we are unable to comment on the case,” it said.
We had not asked it to comment on the case.
East London councillor accused of trying to get 16-year-old girl to drop rape allegation
An east London councillor has been charged with perverting the course of justice by allegedly trying to influence a 16-year-old girl into dropping her allegation of rape.
Abdul Malik, 50, who represents Blackwall and Cubitt Town ward on Tower Hamlets Council, was due to appear at Thames magistrates court on Friday to face the charge for the first time
It is said he “contacted the father of a 16-year-old complainant of rape and told him to get his daughter to drop the charges against the male alleged to have raped her and get him out of custody, which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice“.
The incident is alleged to have happened on January 23. The father and aunt of the suspected rapist are accused of also intervening two weeks earlier.
Abdul Roqib, 45, is accused of contacting the 16-year-old on January 10 “to ask her to drop the charges against his son, which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice“.
Rahela Begum, 41, is also accused of also contacting the girl on the same day to allegedly try to convince her to withdraw from the criminal case.
All three defendants are due to appear in court to face a charge of committing an act or series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice.
Malik sits on Tower Hamlets council for the Aspire Party, which is led by the borough’s directly-elected Mayor Lutfur Rahman.
He currently sits as chair of the Human Resources Committee, and also has a seat on the licensing committee, having first been elected to the council in 2022.
It is understood Malik, of Mercury Walk, Tower Hamlets, Roqib, of Warrior Square in Manor Park, and Begum, of Rye Road in Hoddesdon, were held in custody before their court hearing.