Thursday, 11 June 2009

Shahid Malik unable to produce receipts or rental agreement.


Sir Philip said that it was "unfortunate" that Mr Malik had not been able to establish a proper audit trail to support his assertions on rent payments.

Mr Malik was able to return to the Government as a junior communities minister after he was cleared by Sir Philip of any breach of the ministerial code of conduct.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister refused to publish a report by Sir Philip into Mr Malik's finances.

But on Wednesday, after calls for publication from figures including Sir Christopher Kelly of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Mr Brown backed down and an edited summary of the document was later published.

The Cabinet Office released Sir Philip's full report, with the address of Mr Malik's Dewsbury house omitted, along with the name of his landlord, Tahir Zaman, and his property company, which had been disclosed previously by The Daily Telegraph.

It found Mr Malik had originally rented one property for £320 a month for three-and-a-half years until the end of May 2008. He then moved into the larger property next door for a monthly rent of £620.

In this report, Sir Philip, the Prime Minister's adviser on ministerial interests, said that he was satisfied that Mr Malik had been charged a commercial rent on both properties, but expressed concern at the way in which payments were made on the second house.


He concluded, in relation to the first property: "I am satisfied that Mr Malik was charged a market, not a discounted rent... I am also satisfied that Mr Malik paid the rent agreed."

On the second, larger property, Sir Philp said he was "clear" that Mr Malik had also been charged the market and not a preferential rent.

"However," he added, "there is no tenancy agreement in relation to the house stating the rent", before noting that there were also no receipts available for cash rental payments involved.

"So I am left with the question, not whether the rent Mr Malik says he was charged was preferential, but whether Mr Malik actually paid the rent he... says he was charged," he said.

"Three pieces of evidence appear to confirm that these cash payments were made...

"I conclude that, on the basis of the evidence before me, it is more likely than not that these cash payments were made."

He added: "It is unfortunate, particularly given his public position, that, in respect of that house, Mr Malik did not think of obtaining at the outset a rental agreement specifying in writing the rent to be paid," Sir Philip said.

"He then entered into an arrangement to pay part of the rent in cash, for which payments (name of the property company) did not give him any receipt.

"I understand the point Mr Malik makes about the influence on him of religious and cultural norms in the Muslim community relating to payments made in cash, but the absence of a rental agreement and of receipts meant that he was left without a clear audit trail to show the payments he had made."

Sir Philip said that Mr Malik had told him that, following original disclosures in The Daily Telegraph's allegations, he had asked for a rental agreement to be drawn up and was "actively considering" paying all of his rent in future by direct debit.

"I hope that, in both his own best interest and the wider interest, he will institute arrangements in this respect immediately," Sir Philip said.

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