News In Focus
11 February 2010
Sturgeon criticised over support for fraudster
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing demands for her resignation after it emerged she had written a letter to a court in support of a convicted fraudster.
Ms Sturgeon wrote the letter of support for Abdul Rauf after he defrauded £80,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions. The letter was produced at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday and handed to Sheriff Alan MacKenzie by defence advocate Donald Findlay QC, who said it was the first time in his career he had handed over a letter from someone of such importance.
In the letter, Ms Sturgeon asked the court to consider “alternatives to a custodial sentence”.
Rauf, 59, who was jailed for four years for fraud in 1996, was due to be sentenced for his latest crime after admitting defrauding the DWP between 2001 and 2006.
Ms Sturgeon, who admitted she knew of Rauf’s previous conviction, said she had written to the court because as his MSP she was “duty bound” to make reasonable representations on behalf of constituents.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said she had “represented her constituent entirely properly and appropriately”.
However, Labour leader Iain Gray said she had made “an appalling error of judgment” and that if the facts of the case were “as they appear” then she must resign. Bill Aitken, Conservative justice spokesman, said: "Ms Sturgeon trained as a solicitor, is an MSP and the Deputy First Minister of Scotland. Her judgment in this matter is completely flawed and she has serious questions to answer."
Property owner
The court heard Rauf admitted failing to declare a property in Edinburgh worth £200,000 on his application for income support. He subsequently received £650 a month in rent while he claimed the benefits between 2001 and 2006.
At the same time he was living in a £400,000 house in Glasgow's Maxwell Park area. When the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) later discovered that he owned the Edinburgh property Rauf said he did not declare it as it had "slipped my mind".
Mr Findlay said his client would be able "to make full restitution to the Government department involved" through the sale of one of his two properties. He added that Rauf was in poor health and produced the letter of support from Ms Sturgeon.
In the letter, the MSP said: "Mr Rauf has accepted his wrong doing and has experienced the consequences of it through the effect on his health, the distress caused to his family and the impact on his standing in his community."
Ms Sturgeon said Rauf had already paid £27,000 of the outstanding balance to the DWP and will settle the remainder by selling property. "He and his wife are anxious that a custodial sentence may be imposed by the court and of the effect this will have on Mr Rauf's health and the impact on family life. I would appeal to the court to take the points raised here into account and consider alternatives to a custodial sentence."
Sheriff MacKenzie told Rauf that a jail term was "at the forefront" of his mind but said he would defer sentence for three months and released him on bail.