Councillor to sit out ban for slur over rival

Aberdeen City Council’s Labour leader has been suspended after branding a rival “prejudiced”.

Mohammad Tauqeer Malik, who represents Lower Deeside, has been suspended for a month after the Standards Commission ruled he breached the councillors code.

During a virtual proceeding yesterday, executives voted to temporarily remove the Labour councillor after he was found to have behaved disrespectfully.

The ruling relates to comments he made against fellow councillor John Cooke in October 2022.

Mr Malik sought reappointment to the executive committee of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum in which he had served for a term.

His attempt was quashed by Mr Cooke, council pensions convener, who said the motion was “not competent” and that the administration had opted not to appoint anyone to the committee yet.

Mr Malik, from an ethnic minority, hit back, claiming SNP councillor Mr Cooke had “shown his prejudice” on the grounds of ethnicity.

Paul Walker, Standards Commission convener and chairman of the hearing panel, said Mr Malik’s conduct was an “unfounded personal attack”.

He said: “In this case, the panel considered Councillor Malik’s conduct amounted to an unfounded personal attack on another elected member.

“The code of conduct does not prevent councillors from being able to express their views.

“The Standards Commission considers, however, that they should do so without making serious, unfounded allegations about other elected members.”

During deliberations the panel considered Mr Malik’s position that the complainer had been prejudiced and had discriminated against Mr Malik on the grounds of ethnicity.

They found “no compelling evidence” to support Mr Malik’s beliefs.

They acknowledged that nominating Mr Malik to the forum may have promoted equality, but did not accept that a failure to do so must be due to prejudice.

Members felt citing claims of prejudice without a “reasonable factual basis” was “disrespectful”, given it could ruin their reputation.

In mitigation, panel members accepted this had been a one-off incident, with no evidence of dishonesty or concealment.

Mr Malik will now stand down until mid-February.

He was “disappointed” by the ruling but stressed he would always stand up for equality and diversity.

He said: “I am really disappointed that the Standards Commission has found against me and against the commissioner’s own report which stated that I had protection under Article 10 of the ECHR legislation.

“There is still no minority ethnic representation on the pension forum.

“I remain resolute in my pursuance of standing up for equality and diversity in society and will never shirk from that responsibility.”

Mr Cooke has been approached for comment.

CODE VIOLATION: Labour’s Mohammad Tauqeer Malik and John Cooke of the SNP.