A Labour Party councillor and her partner have been given immediate jail sentences after they were involved in a “prolonged and sustained attempt” to pervert the course of justice over a speeding offence.
Fazila Loonat, a Labour councillor for Batley East on Kirklees Council was jailed for 14 weeks and her partner Afshin Amini, for 12-weeks, at Bradford Crown Court.
Loonat’s partner was captured driving her Mercedes C220 car at 39mph on a 30mph road on Huddersfield Road in Dewsbury in 2020. A notice of intended prosecution was sent to her address but she returned the forms naming a fictitious driver. The court heard police had been unable to find the alleged driver of the Mercedes given on the forms returned by the councillor.
Further investigation revealed that the address listed on the forms belonged to Amini, a 34-year-old shop owner, and contained no living space. Prosecutor Nadim Bashir stated that a second warning letter was sent to Loonat urging her to reconsider, but she submitted fraudulent information once again.
Mr. Bashir stated that Loonat had posted an ad on eBay offering the Mercedes for sale after the speeding offense, but that this was obviously done to support their claim that the vehicle had been on a test drive at the time it triggered the speed camera. According to Bashir, police visited her residence in Church Walk, Staincliffe, and offered her a “final opportunity” to provide the correct information, but she declined.
Loonat, who was heavily pregnant at the time of the offending, eventually pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in March this year. Loonat was said to be “terrified of prison”. Her barrister Jayne Beckett, said “She’s very tearful today and obviously distressed for her children. This is a really huge and very sad fall from grace.”
We no longer find it surprising when individual politicians appear in court over allegations of corruption, sexual offenses or other forms of criminality. Our people seem to have made up their minds when it comes to politicians: they are all as bad as each other.
When a Nationalist misbehaves, the entire political organisation and its members are treated as though it is part of some type of criminal conspiracy. Yet any crime involving an ‘old gang’ politician is treated as just one bad apple in an otherwise law-abiding political party.
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Top Image: Kirklees Council. Fazila Loonat, jailed Labour councillor for Batley East.
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