🔴 MET CHIEF INSPECTOR DENIES PLOTTING FAKE RACISM CLAIM AGAINST BOSS
Explosive Met Police scandal: Zahir Asghar accused of family conspiracy to fake racism claim and silence key witness. Shocking court details inside.
A senior Metropolitan Police officer plotted to frame a colleague with a fabricated racism allegation, a court heard.
Chief Inspector Zahir Asghar, 45, denies orchestrating a false complaint against Superintendent Lisa Butterfield.
Prosecutors allege Asghar conspired with cousin Afrasayab Aslam to claim Butterfield racially abused an Uber Eats rider.
The pair face charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Asghar also denies misconduct in public office.
The bogus report emerged in October 2023, one month after Butterfield attended an event at South Woodford Islamic Centre.
Asghar, attached to the North East Command Unit, allegedly sought to discredit Butterfield.
She was a witness in a separate misconduct probe against him.
When suspicion turned to Asghar, he is accused of recruiting son Ibrahim to confess falsely.
Ibrahim allegedly told investigators he and an unknown accomplice lodged the complaint.
Asghar and Aslam entered not guilty pleas in August.
Asghar reiterated his denial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Judge Christopher Hehir rejected bids to expedite the five-week trial.
The courthouse faces a backlog of 1,300 cases.
Trial is fixed for 19 July 2027.
Aslam, of College Road, Walthamstow, and Asghar, of Chingford, remain on bail.
The first perverting charge states the defendants “conspired together to do a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice”.
Specifically, making a false report that Butterfield abused a member of the public.
The second charge centres on Ibrahim’s statement.
It claims Asghar and Aslam agreed the son would falsely claim responsibility.
The misconduct count accuses Asghar of abusing his position.
He allegedly engineered the report to undermine Butterfield’s credibility in his own disciplinary case.
