A DATE has still not been set for Sandwell Council to hold its standards committee hearing into the alleged corruption involving Oldbury councillor Mahboob Hussain.

Serious allegations have been made about Cllr Hussain, the former deputy leader, regarding land sales and parking tickets.

He was due to face the authority's standards committee in September to answer a number of alleged code of conduct breaches, but the hearing was postponed to take place at some point after Monday (October 9).

However, council chiefs have said they are still in the process of arranging a new date for the standards hearing due to the “unavailability” of Cllr Hussain.

Surjit Tour, Sandwell Council’s monitoring officer, said: “It has not been possible to confirm a hearing date due to the unavailability of Councillor Hussain and his representative.

“A standards sub-committee hearing will be convened to consider the complaint made against Councillor Hussain as soon as circumstances allow.”

It’s alleged that Cllr Hussain abused his position on the council to secure the sale of land to a close associate for just £35,000 when he knew it had been valued at £130,000, and that he wrongly secured the cancellation of parking tickets and reduction of parking fines issued to members of his family.

The allegations – which were the subject of last year’s Wragge report – have been denied by Cllr Hussain, who refutes any wrongdoing.

He was initially due to appear before the committee in August 2016 and then again in March 2017, but both hearings were cancelled following High Court legal challenges.

But in June, Mr Justice Green said the allegations against Cllr Hussain should now be investigated properly by the council.