Labour MP Apsana Begum, 31, blames 'controlling' ex-husband for using her name to claim £64,000 in housing benefits on her 'overcrowded' family flat while she was living with three others in four-bed house, court hears

Apsana Begum, 31, claimed she was living in 'overcrowded conditions' with her family when she was really in a four-bedroom house with three other people, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard 

A Labour MP accused of social housing fraud blamed her hard-drinking ex-husband for making bids for council properties behind her back. 

Apsana Begum, 31, claimed she was living in 'overcrowded conditions' with her family when she was really in a four-bedroom house with three other people, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.   

She did not tell police when she moved in with her partner, Ehtashamul Haque, and later blamed him for making an application in her name, jurors were told.  

Begum, who won the east London seat of Poplar and Limehouse with a 28,904 majority in the general election in December 2019, denies three counts of fraud dating between 18 January 2013 and 31 March 2016.

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets alleges housing Begum cost £63,928 in rent. 

In the second day of her evidence Begum told jurors that Mr Haque had been a 'controlling' husband, who often kept things from her, including his heavy drinking.

She moved in with Mr Haque in June 2013 and no longer needed to apply for social housing but bids continued to be made on her account.

'I think it may have been my ex-husband,' she said.

'He did have access to a lot of my things by that time.

'I had taken a loan out for him.

'He did create an email address for me, and we had a password that was shared.

'He did know that I had had an application for housing before.'

Cross-examining Begum, prosecutor James Marsland asked why she thought her ex-husband would make the bids behind her back.

'I don't know what his plans were or what was going on in his mind at the time,' said Begum.

Sketch of Apsana Begum, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, appearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court

'He is somebody who from the moment I met him, he is an extroverted character... and as I said before, I got married to him, a lot of things were shared.

'I can't fully explain about the social housing bids behind my back.

JOHN MCDONNELL: BEGUM IS A 'VERY GOOD PERSON'  

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell described Labour MP Apsana Begum, on trial for housing fraud, as 'hard working' and 'a very good person'.

Mr McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, said he met Begum while she was seeking selection as the parliamentary candidate for Poplar and Limehouse.

'I thought she was a very straightforward, sincere, committed person, very keen to represent the local community,' said Mr McDonnell.

'She came across as very hard working.

'I've worked with her quite closely in Parliament.

'I think she comes across as always wanting to do the right thing.

'I always describe her as a very good person.

'I was hoping if we were elected, I would like to add her to my ministerial team...as a parliamentary private secretary.

Prosecutor James Marsland asked Mr McDonnell if Begum was a 'good political operator'.

Mr McDonnell replied: 'I wouldn't call her an operator.

'In some respects that would be derogatory.

'I think she relates to people well and I think she can put a good argument.

'You have to win people with honesty and sincerity, and I think that's what she's done, not just in my own political party, but across the house as well.'

'Over the years I've learnt more and more about what he is doing.

'Some of is still a revelation to me.

'By 2015 and what happened then, it became apparent to me that I didn't know what he was up to... I only saw glimpses or pockets of behaviour in the earlier time.

'There was a lot of money going to Bangladesh as well...and all the kinds of things I had been lied to about.'

Begum told the court that she believed Mr Haque had accessed her bidding details from notebooks she kept at the time.

'We lived together, he would have access to all my things, and I would have had a couple of notebooks, with details in them.

'I can't explain his behaviour.'

But the prosecutor said without Begum's involvement, Mr Haque would not have been able to proceed with any housing bids.

'Without you being in the process, Mr Haque couldn't have achieved any could he?' said Mr Marsland.

'These are things that were gains in the potential or long-term future for you.

'And you were capable of making those gains.

Begum was asked why her aunt and mother described the property at Woodstock Terrace, Poplar as having four bedrooms, in applications for housing and council tax exemption.

Mr Marsland said: 'Your aunt made a housing application in 2009.

'In short, she said that at that point in time, the property was being used as four bedrooms.

'Your mother in April 2013 made an application for council tax benefit.

'Is she wrong when she says four bedrooms?

'Can you help us with why two people, years apart, applying for different things, have made the same mistake?'

Begum replied: 'I don't know. It was always three bedrooms.'

She was also asked about her contact Tower Hamlets Housing Options and no record of her calls being present on the system.

Begum told the court that she first called the service to inform them of a change of circumstances when she moved in to St Bernard Terrace in June 2013.

She later called when she returned to Woodstock Terrace in 2015 but the calls did not appear on the Camino workflow system used by THHO.

'You called up and two things have happened,' said Mr Marsland.

Begum denies three counts of fraud and is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court  

'The first one is that no one's made a note of it, no-one's logged it.

'No one has actioned it; no one has taken any action on the basis that you've told them.

'Is the position that twice over two years apart, you have suffered the same problem of calling and, on two different occasions someone has failed to log an action?'

Begum replied: 'I can't comment on what another person did or didn't do,' said Begum.

'All I can say is what I remember.

'I called in 2015.

'I spoke to someone and filled in a form as a result.

'I can't say whether they have or haven't all I can say is that I did call.'

Begum denies three counts of fraud dating between 18 January 2013 and 31 March 2016.

The trial continues.