Grieve Warns Of 'Ethnic Corruption' In UK

Politicians need to "wake up" to the problem of corruption in ethnic minority communities, the Government's senior law officer has warned.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve has faced criticism from political opponents after the comments, in which he said he was referring "mainly to the Pakistani community".

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the Tory MP pointed out that it could also be found in the "white Anglo-Saxon" community but he said it was a growing problem "because we have minority communities in this country which come from backgrounds where corruption is endemic".

"It is something as politicians we have to wake up to," he added.

The MP for Beaconsfield said: "I can see many of them have come because of the opportunities that they get. But they also come from societies where they have been brought up to believe you can only get certain things through a favour culture.

"One of the things you have to make absolutely clear is that that is not the case and it's not acceptable."

Asked if he was referring to the Pakistani community in his remarks, Mr Grieve told the newspaper: "Yes, it's mainly the Pakistani community, not the Indian community. I wouldn't draw it down to one. I'd be wary of saying it's just a Pakistani problem."

Baroness Warsi said electoral fraud also affects the Asian community

Mr Grieve highlighted electoral fraud as an area of concern, echoing comments made in 2010 by senior Tory Baroness Warsi.

Lady Warsi told the New Statesman magazine there were "at least three seats where we lost, where we didn't gain the seat, based on electoral fraud" and said the problems were "predominantly within the Asian community".

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood told Sky News that Mr Grieve was political point scoring.

"What's his statistical evidence?" he said.

"He's the Attorney General, he's the law officer, what more prosecutions has he made since 2008 and why does it come up now? 

"Is it because it's coming up to the general election and because the Tory party wants another immigration issue or community-based issue they want to move on? I feel this is what he's doing in pushing that."

John Hemming MP and Khalid Mahmood MP both questioned Mr Grieve's comments

The Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, John Hemming, told Sky News that corruption should be dealt with generally rather than on ethnic grounds.

"It shouldn't be made as an issue for one particular ethnic community," he said. "We should deal with corruption more generally.

"I worry about the complacency in this country about white Anglo-Saxon Protestant corruption because I see situations on a day-to-day basis where things are going very seriously wrong.

"You see things deteriorating and that shouldn't be made into an ethnic thing, it should be focused on as something we should deal with and have the right checks and balances on."

Mr Grieve also said that the UK's infrastructure could be put under strain if significant numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians come to the UK when controls expire in January.

He acknowledged that "the volume of immigrants may pose serious infrastructure issues".

Shabana Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said: "The Attorney General should apologise. His wild extrapolation is based on a few flimsy facts and smears the entire UK Pakistani community.

"He should think again and come back to the table when he has had a chance to consider the facts more carefully."

Later in a statement, Mr Grieve said: "I am very clear that integration between ethnic communities in the UK has worked well and has delivered great benefits for all of us.

"This is a point I clearly made in my interview with the Telegraph, and I'm disappointed that this has not been reflected in their front page story.

"The point I was making is that, as a law officer, it's my duty to ensure the rule of law is upheld, and one of the issues that I feel requires close attention is any potential for a rise in corruption to undermine civil society.

"I believe this is an issue which needs to be addressed calmly and rationally.

"I am absolutely clear that this problem is not attributable to any one community, as I know very well from my many years promoting community cohesion."

Sky News political reporter Darren McCaffrey said Mr Grieve's comments are likely "to prove controversial".

"We have to remember he is an elected politician and he is also the Government's top lawyer, he is someone that we don't usually hear from a lot and this is why his intervention is unusual," he added.

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