Council report reveals that suspicions around Mohammad Islam’s conduct first surfaced before he became mayor, reports James Cracknell

Mohammad Islam pictured during his former role as Enfield mayor (credit Enfield Council)

A council report into misconduct allegations against a former Enfield mayor reveals the civic centre was alerted to suspicions from the Home Office over a year before his suspension by the Labour Party.

The report into Mohammad Islam’s conduct – published yesterday (Monday 4th) ahead of a conduct committee hearing next week which will determine his fate – states that the Ponders End councillor is accused of “using the office of the mayor to support visa applications for his friends and family, contrary to the advice of officers and for reasons not connected with the borough”.

The Dispatch exclusively revealed in June, shortly after his suspension by Labour, that Cllr Islam was being investigated by the Home Office over suspected immigration offences.

This week’s civic centre report reveals that Enfield Council was first contacted by the Home Office regarding Cllr Islam on 1^st May 2024, before he was even elected as mayor later that month – but that an external investigation was not conducted until nine months later, in February this year.

Cllr Islam was eventually suspended by Labour around six weeks after he had already hung up his chains of office. He has not responded to repeated requests to comment.

The civic centre report states the external investigation into Cllr Islam concluded that the evidence showed he had breached the council’s code of conduct on three counts; by “improperly” using his position as a councillor to confer “an advantage” for himself or others, by conducting himself in a manner which brings the office of mayor “into disrepute”, and by misusing council resources.

Explaining how the investigation into Cllr Islam arose, the report states: “An external investigation was carried out at the request of the monitoring officer on 17th February 2025. This followed the council being contacted by the Home Office on 1st May 2024 about a letter that had been sent to them and included as a supporting document in a visa application.

“The Home Office wished to confirm the legitimacy of the letter and whether the council had approved it. The monitoring officer appointed CH&I associates to investigate the matter.”

Much more detail on the allegations against Cllr Islam is included in the external report produced by CH&I, but this has been classified as exempt from the public because of the personal information it contains.

In response to this week’s revelations, Alessandro Georgiou, leader of the opposition Conservative group on the council, has called on the ex-mayor to resign as a councillor. He told the Dispatch: “The allegations against Cllr Islam are appalling and are supported by strong evidence. Cllr Islam should step down from the council immediately to prevent further embarrassment to our great borough.”

The council’s conduct committee will meet at 4pm on Tuesday, 12th August, to hear further evidence and decide if Cllr Islam has breached the code, before also deciding on any sanctions against him, which may include banning him from council offices.

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