Poplar Town Hall owner Mujibul Islam receives apology and damages from The Telegraph in libel case

Poplar Town Hall owner Mujibul Islam has issued the following press statement.

The Daily Telegraph has apologised and paid substantial damages to Mr Mujibul Islam for publishing a series of articles which were defamatory of him. The articles concerned the sale in 2011 of Old Poplar Town Hall by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, then headed by Mayor Lutfur Rahman, to Mujibul Islam’s company Dreamstar Limited and the subsequent grant of planning permission for the development of the property as a hotel. The majority of the articles were written by Andrew Gilligan.

From 18th January 2014 to 24th April 2015 the Telegraph Media Group and Andrew Gilligan published a series of 19 articles in The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and online at www.telegraph.co.uk which referred to Mujibul Islam, an East London businessman. The articles alleged, in summary, that Mr Islam had been a willing beneficiary of corruption on the part of Lutfur Rahman while Mr Rahman was the mayor of Tower Hamlets. It was suggested that Mr Rahman had enabled Mr Islam to purchase the Old Poplar Town Hall building from Tower Hamlets council for substantially less than its true value as a corrupt reward for Mr Islam’s political support. It was also suggested that as a further corrupt reward from Mr Rahman, Mr Islam had been able to obtain planning permission for the redevelopment of the Old Poplar Town Hall as a hotel through a means whereby scrutiny from the council’s Planning Committee was improperly bypassed.

The Telegraph Media Group accepted in an out of court settlement that those claims were entirely untrue. Mr Islam did not willingly benefit from corruption in the purchase of the Old Poplar Town Hall.  He bid for the property on the open market and did not manipulate the planning process for the development of the building. Telegraph Media Group published an apology to Mr Islam online on 7 May 2016 and the following day in The Sunday Telegraph, apologising for making the false claims about him. Telegraph Media Group has also withdrawn those claims from further publication on the Telegraph website, and has agreed to pay Mr Islam substantial damages for libel and legal costs.

The following apology appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on 8th May 2016 and will remain available on the Telegraph website:
“Mujibul Islam – an apology
“In our coverage of Luftur Rahman the former mayor of Tower Hamlets, we reported on the sale of Poplar Town Hall to a company controlled by Mujibul Islam, a local businessman, and the subsequent grant of planning permission for a hotel. Our articles suggested that Mr Islam was a willing beneficiary of Mr Rahman’s corruption. This is untrue.  We accept that Mr Islam bid for the property on the open market and did not manipulate the planning process. We apologise to Mr Islam and have agreed to pay him damages and costs.”

fter settling the case, Mr Islam said:
“It took me a lifetime to build my reputation and business integrity but for the last two years I have suffered embarrassment and distress as a result of the publication of these articles, my community had turned against me and they had a negative perception of this entire transaction. Even my Labour Party membership was withdrawn.
“However, I am glad that The Sunday’s Telegraph’s publisher has acknowledged its mistakes and we were able to settle this matter, so that we can all move forward and I can now rebuild my reputation.”

Mr Islam was represented in the case by Ruth Collard and Dominic Garner of Carter-Ruck, solicitors.

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