Wexham Court Parish Council Chair hits back at WhatsApp message claims

The chair of Wexham Court Parish Council has dismissed claims that she called for an all Muslim council leadership as a ‘smear’.

Alleged WhatsApp messages seen by The Express dated April 22, show a contact named Shaida Akbar saying the council needs a Muslim chair and vice chair.

The messages also refer to a chair candidate nicknamed ‘Sandy’, who the Express understands to be Cllr Sandra Malik, getting ‘gori’, an Indian term for white women, to back her up.

It is not known who the recipient of the messages was.

The messages also accuse court clerk Surinder Jabble of not consulting the council’s leadership and ‘‘making all decisions regarding money’.

Cllr Akbar has vehemently denied the messages were sent by her.

She told The Express: “This an attempt to smear me. Some individuals do not want me to continue as a Parish Councillor. 

“I have had excellent support from colleagues. I can state the allegations are false.”

She said yesterday [Thursday, February 15] that no one has asked for an investigation at the Parish Council.

Mr Jabble dismissed initial reports of the messages as ‘fake news’ but said he would talk to councillors to see if an investigation is needed.

A Slough Borough Council spokeswoman said the matter is with the monitoring officer.

She added: “That doesn’t mean there’s an actual investigation. They are aware of it and they are looking into it and it may or may not become an investigation.”