New York man linked to Victorian ALP ‘dirt sheet’ goes to ground

A man suspected of emailing a ‘dirt sheet’ that destroyed a Labor candidate’s career just weeks before last year’s Victorian election has gone to ground.

Then Labor candidate Nurul Khan with then Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.

A Brooklyn man suspected of emailing a “dirt sheet” that destroyed a Labor candidate’s political career just weeks before last year’s Victorian election has gone to ground in New York.

Mohammad Saif Uddin – identified in legal documents as the person who sent the email – has moved out of the Brooklyn apartment linked to the plot and changed his mobile phone number, his family says.

The Australian visited the Brooklyn apartment this week and a woman who identified ­herself as Mr Uddin’s cousin ­answered the door, confirming he had lived at the address but saying he had moved and indicating that she had lost track of him.

“He is not here anymore,” she told The Australian. “He is my cousin but he’s not living here anymore. He used to live here.

“He’s changed (his mobile) number … (and) I do not (know where he now lives), sorry.”

The Brooklyn apartment in New York.

A “dirt sheet” making a series of serious allegations against Labor upper house candidate Nurul Khan was emailed to federal Labor MPs and party chiefs just weeks before last year’s state election.

Within days, Mr Khan was stripped of his preselection by the Victorian ALP.

The experienced Bangladeshi-born lawyer has always maintained his innocence and has launched a campaign to unmask the plotters and clear his name.

Mr Khan’s lawyers and private investigators were able to link an anonymous Gmail david­[e-mail] account after a landmark ruling in the Australian Federal Court in July ordering Google to reveal key details ­behind that account.

Following the ruling, Google disclosed the registration details of the email account, including a ­birthdate of March 13, 1972, and New York mobile phone number used for verification.

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

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

He has said he believed the Brooklyn man had links to those Melbourne identities behind the plot.

The legal notice served on the Brooklyn address puts the man on notice that the “contents of the anonymous email were severely ­defamatory of our client” and goes on to say that as a result, “the ALP disendorsed our client without seeking any response from him”.

Victorian Labor chiefs axed Mr Khan as an upper house candidate in the western metropolitan region on November 12, just three days after the david­[e-mail] email ­arrived at 1.18am on November 9.

Google records show the email ­account was established on ­November 8.

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