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Cllr Bertha Joseph suspended for using charity money to buy ball gown (From Harrow Times)
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Cllr Bertha Joseph suspended for using charity money to buy ball gown
1:15pm Thursday 15th October 2009
A FORMER Mayor of Brent has been suspended for taking money intended for a charity ball and spending it on clothes.
Councillor Bertha Joseph, who represented the borough as mayor in 1998/99 and again in 2007/08, has been found guilty of bringing her office into disrepute and using her position as mayor to gain an advantage.
The council's standards committee heard on Tuesday evening Cllr Joseph had used sponsorship raised for a Mayor's Charity Ball that she helped organise to buy herself a ball gown.
She was also found to have failed to declare two gifts from local businesses totalling £900, and the committee has recommended she give the money to the current Mayor of Brent's charity.
Cllr Joseph has been found guilty of breaching the code of conduct and suspended her from all duties for six months.
The representative for Kensal Green, who switched parties from Labour to Tory in 2007, did not turn up for the committee hearing.
However, it is understood she is considering an appeal against the decision.
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Your Say YourHarrow
jackdaw, Harrow says...
5:50pm Thu 15 Oct 09
She doesn't appeal to me! Why hasn't she done the decent thing and resigned.
As a former Mayor doesn't she think she has to set a good example?
Davidz, Middlesex says...
11:04am Thu 22 Oct 09
a quick look shows her chequered history, needless to say not a good role model!
Davidz, Middlesex says...
4:56pm Tue 9 Feb 10
No Spin, No PR, just what the independenet panel/legal officers felt:
After considering the written evidence and submissions of the parties the Tribunal dismissed the appeal and upheld the suspension of Cllr Bertha Jospeh. The remainder of the suspension now comes into effect immediately.
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Cllr Joseph, who has been suspended, with deputy council leader Bob Blackman after her 2007 defection.
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jackdaw, Harrow says...
5:43pm Thu 15 Oct 09
into money raised for charity and taking gifts and she has only been suspended from office for 6 months!
She ought to hang her head in shame.
If she were representing my ward I would want her to stand down immediately. Since when did this behaviour count as a minor misdemeanour?