Labour MP Apsana Begum, 31, collapses and weeps as she is found NOT GUILTY of £64,000 council flat housing fraud
- Labour MP Apsana Begum, 31, had been charged with three counts of fraud
- She was accused of conning a local council out of £64,000 in housing benefits
- But today, Begum wept in the dock as she was found not guilty of all charges
An emotional Labour MP wept in court after today being cleared of housing fraud.
Apsana Begum, 31, was on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London for three counts of dishonestly failing to disclose information relating to her council housing application during three periods between January 2013 and March 2016
Tower Hamlets Council, which brought the prosecution, alleged that the cost to the local authority was £63,928, because someone else on the housing list had to be given accommodation elsewhere.
She successfully gained a social housing tenancy in under four months, rather than the average three-year wait, due to her claims, a court heard.
As jurors found the Poplar and Limehouse MP not guilty of all charges on Friday, she collapsed and wept in the dock.
Apsana Begum (left and right in court), 31, the MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, claimed she was living in ‘overcrowded conditions’ with her family when she was in a four-bedroomed house, jurors heard
Begum, who had been on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, later blamed her partner, local councillor Ehtashamul Haque, for making an application to Tower Hamlets Council in her name, it is claimed.
The MP, who won the east London seat of Poplar and Limehouse with a 28,904 majority in the general election in December 2019, contested the ‘malicious and false allegations’ that she failed to tell the council that she was no longer living in overcrowded conditions when she made her claims.
Prosecutors previously told the court that Ms Begum applied to join the social housing register for London Borough of Tower Hamlets in July 2011.
She remained on the register until March 7, 2016 when she was awarded the tenancy of a studio flat, on the basis that she was living in overcrowded conditions in her family home.
Begum was one of 26 new Labour MPs elected in 2019, winning her seat with a majority of nearly 30,000.
A supporter of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum, she has spoken in Parliament about the impact of coronavirus on ethnic minorities and sits on the Commons education committee.
She is also notable for being the chair of an all-party committee on domestic abuse and violence and has spoken in the House of Commons about being a survivor.
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