City of Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan loses appeal

A WESTERN suburbs councillor faces losing his right to run training colleges, with a judge saying the blatant disregard of his obligations to the council and community was “astounding”.

Cr Intaj Khan bought one of the three former Mowbray College campuses.

A LOCAL councillor faces losing his right to run training colleges after a judge dismissed his appeal against several local government convictions.

County Court judge Sarah Dawes said the blatant disregard of his obligations shown by City of Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan was astounding.

In July, Cr Khan was fined $26,000 after being convicted on eight charges related to failing to disclose companies in which he had a financial interest and failing to submit ordinary election returns.

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City of Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan.

Cr Khan, 45, had pleaded guilty in the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court, but lodged a County Court appeal against the convictions.

Cr Khan’s barrister Sarah Keating told the court today that her client’s disorganisation had led to the charges, and the firms he had failed to disclose were shelf companies that never traded and never did anything.

“Mr Khan, when he has an idea...registers the company,” she said.

“In this case there was no benefit whatsoever, no advantage, no fraud.”

Ms Keating said that the difficulty for Cr Khan was that he owned two registered training organisations and that having convictions could affect their ongoing registration, with the potential loss of 25 jobs.

Cr Intaj Khan at Werribee South.

However, Cr Khan withdraw his appeal after Judge Dawes said: “I don’t accept the submissions, and your client is at risk.”

The judge said it was astounding that a person with a university degree had shown such blatant disregard of his obligations to the council and the community.

The charges arose following an investigation by municipal watchdog the Local Government Inspectorate.

Cr Khan, who has five children, migrated to Australia in 1998 and was first elected to Wyndham Council in 2012.

An ALP member, he expressed interest in running for Melbourne lord mayor this year as a City of Melbourne property owner and business director.

However, as a sitting councillor from another municipality, he was ineligible to be a candidate.

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