New York link to Victorian Labor ‘dirt sheet’ scandal

Twist reveals the Victorian ALP ‘dirt sheet’ that destroyed a Labor candidate was emailed from New York.

Dumped Labor candidate Nurul Khan, left, with former Victorian Labor premier Daniel Andrews.

A “dirt sheet” that destroyed the political career of an ALP ­candidate just weeks before last year’s state election was emailed to Victorian Labor MPs and party chiefs from New York.

In a significant twist in his quest to unmask the anonymous plotter, axed candidate Nurul Khan and his team of lawyers and private investigators have linked the defamatory email to a man who lives in Brooklyn.

The breakthrough followed a landmark ruling in the Australian Federal Court in July ordering Google to reveal key details ­behind the Gmail account [e-mail], used to send the log of serious claims.

The tech giant then disclosed the registration details of the email account, including a ­birthdate of March 13, 1972, and New York mobile phone number used for verification when it was set up.

Mr Khan also obtained the IP address of the computer used to send the email, allowing his legal and investigative team to link the email to an address in Brooklyn.

“I want to prove that the allegations were false and that based on a false allegations the Labor Party unreasonably disendorsed me. It was unfair,” he told The Australian.

“I am fighting for justice … whatever I need to do, I will do.”

Mr Khan has issued a legal ­demand on the Brooklyn man – identified in the documents as ­Mohammad Saif Uddin – seeking an apology and $80,000 in compensation over the dirt sheet email.

Mr Khan, a Bangladeshi-born lawyer, suspects Victorian Labor MPs, party figures and members of the Bangladeshi community were all involved in a conspiracy to end his political career.

He believes the Brooklyn man has links to those Melbourne identities behind the plot. He hopes that by taking legal action against him it will help flush out the Melbourne plotters.

“As the proprietor of the Gmail address, you are liable as a primary publisher of the Anonymous Email,” the legal notice states.

“The contents of the Anonymous Email were severely ­defamatory of our client … as a ­result of the publication of the Anonymous Email, the ALP disendorsed our client without seeking any response from him.”

The legal notice goes on to state:

“Before the Anonymous Email was published, our client had a fine reputation in the community as a leader and former President of the Victorian Bangladeshi Community Foundation. He also had a fine reputation in the ALP as a member and person with future leadership prospects.”

The legal notice says the “dirt sheet” email had an “enormous” impact on Mr Khan who had suffered “a serious degree of hatred, ridicule and contempt” and he had been “shunned” by parts of his community and the ALP.

ALP chiefs summarily dumped Mr Khan as an upper house candidate in the western metropolitan region on November 12, just three days after party chiefs and Labor MPs were emailed the dirt sheet.

The email landed at 1.18am and contained a series of defamatory allegations against Mr Khan. Without conducting a thorough investigation the ALP axed him. Google records show the email ­account was established on ­November 8.

The email shows it was sent to a number of senior state and federal Labor MPs, including the now Premier, Jacinta Allan, and her Deputy Premier, Ben Carroll, as well as former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Mr Khan says and without investigating them, or asking for his side of the story, ­the party immediately moved to cut him from its upper house ticket. The Victorian ALP has defended its swift removal of Mr Khan, saying the integrity of its candidates was a priority.