News

Sandwell Council leader cleared over ‘smear campaign’ misconduct claims

A Sandwell MBC councillor has not breached the authority’s code of conduct, it has been found, after a former council member accused the leader of allegedly conducting a “smear campaign” against him.

A complaint was made to the council’s monitoring officer by former councillor Mahboob Hussain accusing leader Cllr Steve Eling, in association with Cllr Richard Marshall, of carrying out an orchestrated campaign against Hussain, his family, and another councillor.

In October last year, Hussain claimed the council leader had leaked confidential council information and personal matters about him and his family for political gain and to “pursue a vendetta” against him.

The former councillor claimed that a meeting in June 2016 between Cllr Eling, Cllr Marshall and the publisher of a blog named ‘The Sandwell Skidder’ Julian Saunders led to a series of text messages being sent between Cllr Marshall and Saunders between August 2016 and May 2017.

Hussain provided a statement from Saunders together with screenshots of messages received by Cllr Marshall, which were published on the blog on 23 August 2017. The messages referred to in his complaint related to two messages in September 2016 in which Cllr Hussain considered evidenced an orchestrated campaign against him.

Cllr Hussain also alleged that Cllr Eling had provided a statement to the Labour Party in relation to disciplinary proceedings against him that contained confidential information which he obtained in his capacity as leader of the council.

At the time Hussain was under investigation over the waiver of parking tickets issued to members of his family, and allegations over the sale of council-owned toilets blocks— however, he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was a victim of a politically-motivated campaign.

In May this year, Hussain stood down as a councillor.

Following Cllr Eling’s council interview during the investigation, he was found to have not breached the code of conduct for Sandwell MBC.

In a statement to PSE, the leader said: “The complaints against me have been fuelled mainly by inaccurate posts on social media which have been demonstrated as untrue in a legal statement made by a social media blogger as part of the investigation.

“This misconceived complaint has been thoroughly examined by an independent investigator who concluded I had not breached the Members’ Code of Conduct.”

Monitoring Officer Surjit Tour said: “Sandwell Council is pleased to be bringing a number of matters before its ethical standards and member development committee on 28 September as part of a periodic update to the committee. “It is essential that our residents have absolute confidence in how seriously we take all allegations and the effectiveness in which they are dealt with.”

Enjoying PSE? Subscribe here to receive our weekly news updates or click here to receive a copy of the magazine!