Conservatives keep councillor charged with forgery, fraud and deception as planning chief

Being charged with a crime isn’t the same as being guilty of one, but it’s still a serious matter. That’s why my rule of thumb for elected politicians is that if you’re charged you step aside from your posts, and if you’re convicted you resign your elected office.

It’s not a rule of thumb followed by the Conservatives in Guildford where despite Cllr Monika Juneja being charged with “forgery, fraud by false representation, obtaining monetary advantage by deception and wilfully pretending to be a barrister”, she is staying on as the councillor in charge of planning:

Caroline Reeves speaking on behalf of the opposition Liberal Democrat group at Millmead said: “… In these circumstances it would be usual for the leader of the group to suspend the member who is facing charges of this nature during the trial period, and we await a decision by Cllr Stephen Mansbridge as to how he will deal with this situation. It is difficult to see how Cllr Juneja can give the Local Plan her full attention while she is facing such serious charges and the legal process is taking its course.”

Staying on so far at least – I suspect there will be rather a lot of fuss over this.

UPDATE
This is what the online newspaper, The Guildford Dragon, has to say:

It is right and proper that only the courts should decide on the case against Cllr Monika Juneja. Only they will hear all the evidence.

But there are many precedents of politicians, at national and local level, stepping aside from leading responsibilities while court cases run their course.

Nothing should be inferred from such actions: it is simply sensible for major responsibilities to be carried by those who do not have the distraction that facing criminal charges must represent.