Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman to challenge ruling

Lutfur Rahman was found guilty of electoral fraud at the High Court

The corrupt mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London is believed to be planning to challenge a High Court ruling that found him guilty of election fraud.

Lutfur Rahman was found guilty of corrupt practices at the High Court on Thursday and removed from office with immediate effect.

The mayoral election of May 2014 was also declared void and must be re-run.

Mr Rahman has denied any wrongdoing and a statement on his website said he would appeal against the ruling.

The statement reads: "Lutfur Rahman will be appealing the judgement made against him at last Thursday's election court. He continues to reject all claims of wrongdoing and we hold that the integrity of the court system was marred by the bias, slurs and factual inaccuracies in the election judgement."

"Tower Hamlets First councillors reject the election court's claims that we are nothing more than a 'one man band'," it continued.

Because the mayor has been removed from office, the council said it was unable to confirm the accuracy of the latest information given on his website.

On the site, the Tower Hamlets First party, founded by Mr Rahman, said it supported him because of his work to support people in accessing social housing and affordable homes.

The election court judgement predicted on Thursday that Mr Rahman would not accept the ruling.

Judge Richard Mawrey said in his ruling: "On past form it appears inevitable that Mr Rahman will denounce this judgement as yet another example of the racism and Islamophobia that have hounded him throughout his political life.

"It is nothing of the sort."