The Dawn of Reality

It’s been a long time coming, but the reality of his persistent, mendacious lying and money-grubbing conspiracy theorising has finally dawned on Raja Miah, a 49 year old unemployed resident in the upmarket Tameside village of Mossley.

In a post on his thoroughly disgraced, frequently banned Recusant Nine Facebook page he admits facing the prospect of losing his upmarket apartment, in a much sought after location, if he fails to successfully defend defamation proceedings brought by nationally known health campaigner, Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE (read more here). Dr Chauhan is also this year’s Deputy Mayor in Oldham Metropolitan Borough and a highly respected, long-serving, former Cabinet Member.

Miah, now widely known on social media and in local What’sApp groups as ‘The Malicious Beggar’, told his Recusant Nine supporters , whom self-style as The Rabble (or Raja’s Rabble), that he cannot afford legal representation.

Yet another in a long line of financial mysteries as he appears to have a bottomless pit to defend extant criminal proceedings brought against him. He has pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Tameside Magistrates’ Court in February, 2022 to harassing a 40 year old lawyer from the Salford area and remains on conditional court bail.

Miah’s legal fees in that particular case are believed to exceed £30,000 after an unprecedented eleven pre-trial hearings, so far. A date for a substantive trial, with a present time estimate of two days, will be set at a preliminary trial hearing in Bolton Crown Court on 9th August, 2023. The hearing in Bolton, estimated to last most of the day, plus the trial, will add very considerably to the fees being paid to what he frequently describes as ‘my legal team’. He fell out with his previous lawyers, Tuckers Solicitors, a leading Manchester firm, over what was said by Miah to be ‘a conflict of interest’. Few outside of The Rabble actually believed that tale.

Another much higher profile mystery involving Raja Miah is of course, the whereabouts of the ‘missing’ £millions siphoned off from two free schools, Creative Studio in Manchester and Collective Free Spirit, he founded in 2013 and ran as chief executive officer.

He has consistently refused to answer questions as to the whereabouts of the money and sparse financial records have, successively, hampered Department of Education, Serious Fraud Office and police investigations into their dispersal. Despite the fact that his long-term business partner, Mohib Uddin, is a senior tax inspector employed by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and a key player and beneficiary, it seems, in the ‘pimping the poor’ schemes.

Uddin also refuses to answer questions about the ultimate destination of those vast funds, which also include previous Oldham-based enterprises such as Peacemaker and RISE, which both went down in financial flames after receiving multi-millions of pounds of public funds. HMRC has consistently refused to answer press enquiries regarding investigations into either their own employee or Raja Miah (or both).

The schools closed in 2017 amidst an appalling catalogue of safeguarding and other governance failings (read here). In the face of the most compelling evidence, both Miah and Uddin deny any wrongdoing.

A matter that will be preying on Miah’s mind is the remedy hearing which is the culmination of another defamation claim in which he is named as co-defendant. The claimant is another highly respected Oldham Council Member, and former Mayor, Cllr Riaz Ahmad. In a High Court judgment handed down a year ago, Miah’s co-defendant, Khazir Rehman (better known locally as ‘Kaiser’), was found to have harassed and defamed Cllr Ahmad. He is now liable for costs and damages, the final sum of which will be determined next week (14th February, 2023) at the Royal Courts of Justice. They are presently estimated to be in the order of £200,000 (read more here).

Miah compromised Cllr Ahmad’s claim at a relatively early stage by making a public apology, removing all offending material and making a donation to charity in Cllr Ahmad’s name. Kaiser, a close friend of Raja and Mo Uddin, chose to proceed, with a hopelessly misconceived defence, and will pay the very expensive price, accordingly.

Early indications, if one believes a word that Raja Miah says, are that he intends, like Kaiser, to have his day in court. But he will find in the austere halls of one of London’s most beautiful and treasured buildings that his (and Kaiser’s) bluster cuts little ice.

Dr Chauhan hás instructed the same specialist law firm, JMW Solicitors in Manchester, that Cllr Ahmad deployed to pursue his claim. Informed commentators confidently predict a similar outcome. It is abundantly clear, from posts put up on the Recusant Nine Facebook page since the claim form was served on Miah, that he has little or no understanding of the Defamation Act, 2013 and, in particular the legal concept of imputation (read definition here).

That ignorance, as it did for Kaiser Rehman, will prove very expensive indeed for Raja Miah, one way or another. Even if he was to compromise the latest claim today or tomorrow, that is likely to cost in the order of £25,000 in costs and disbursements. He is adamant, however, in his familiar belligerent style, that he can defend the claim and is prepared to see it through to its conclusion in court. He has regularly described it as ‘fake’ in a vain attempt to appease supporters who are migrating away from The Rabble as his behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and outrageous (read more here).

Very many in Oldham – and the wider region of Greater Manchester – look forward to that day. Street parties are already in the planning stage with ample supplies of Raja’s favourite nibble:

Page last updated Thursday 7th February, 2022 at 1045hrs

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© Neil Wilby 2015-2022. Unauthorised use, or reproduction, of the material contained in this article, without permission from the author, is strictly prohibited. Extracts from, and links to, the article (or blog) may be used, provided that credit is given to Neil Wilby Media, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Page last updated Thursday 7th February, 2022 at 0615hrs

Thank you for reading and a polite request: If you wish to make a contribution to the running costs of this website it would be very much appreciated. Donations can made securely, via PayPal, at this link.

Corrections: Please let me know if there is a mistake in this article. I will endeavour to correct it as soon as possible.

Picture credits: Facebook

Right of reply: If you are mentioned in this article and disagree with it, please let me have your comments. Provided your response is not defamatory it will be added to the article.

© Neil Wilby 2015-2022. Unauthorised use, or reproduction, of the material contained in this article, without permission from the author, is strictly prohibited. Extracts from, and links to, the article (or blog) may be used, provided that credit is given to Neil Wilby Media, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.