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A Palmerston North mayoral candidate is in jail awaiting sentence on fraud charges.
Nominations for the October 13 local body elections closed at noon today.
Arshad Chatha was one of three people nominated for the Palmerston North mayoralty, but he is in custody after being convicted on immigration-related offences following a trial in the High Court at Wellington.
Chatha is in custody until October 12. Counting of votes in the elections starts after midday on October 13.
Local government sources told the Manawatu Standard that if Chatha was sentenced to a jail term and elected to the mayoralty, he would almost certainly then be disqualified because he would be unable to properly perform the functions of mayor from a prison cell.
A fresh election would then have to be held.
He denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury and convicted by Justice Alan MacKenzie at the end of the trial, in which he defended himself.
Chatha faced three charges of using a document with intent to defraud, three of obtaining a document with intent to defraud and one of possession of an implement for forgery - a passport stamp purporting to be in the name of a doctor from Pakistan.
- NZPA
