A councillor suspended by the Scottish LibDems has been allowed to rejoin the party despite still facing electoral fraud charges.
Aileen Polson, who was elected to represent the Milngavie ward on East Dunbartonshire Council in May 2022, was suspended by the Scottish LibDems after being charged with electoral fraud in October last year.
Ms Polson and her husband and fellow councillor, Andrew Polson, were charged with falsely claiming that they live in the council area when their family home was in Glasgow, according to initial reports by the Sunday Times.
The couple allegedly used an address in Bearsden to register on the electoral roll.
Mr Polson is an independent councillor on the same local authority who used to be a Conservative and is a former co-leader of the council.
In November, the Scottish LibDems confirmed Ms Polson had been suspended from the party with a spokesperson saying she “has been suspended from the party”, adding that “this is now a matter for the police”.
But despite charges still being faced by Ms Polson, the LibDems have confirmed that she has been given permission to re-join the local party.
The party declined to comment any further on allowing her to rejoin the LibDems.
The Crown Office confirmed that charges remain active and said that no date for any court appearance has been set.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A 50-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman have been arrested and charged in connection with the Representation of The People Act 1983 on Thursday, 6 October, 2022.
“They are due to appear in court at a later date.”
Ms Polson sits on the council’s education committee, as well as holding a place on the planning board, transformation and community wellbeing scrutiny panel, local development plan working party and housing, health and care forum.
The councillor also takes part in housing appeal and traffic management appeal cases.
Electoral fraud can be a serious offence.
In 2021, a former Labour councillor has imprisoned for 17 months after lying about his address so he could stand for election.
Chaudhary Mohammed Iqbal, 51, lived in Barking, Essex, but claimed he lived in Ilford so he could run for the Loxford seat on Redbridge Borough Council in 2018.
Data from the Electoral Commission shows that in 2022, around two thirds of electoral fraud cases resulted in police no further action.
The Electoral Commission said many cases were not investigated further by the police because there was no evidence, there wasn’t enough evidence, or an offence wasn’t found.
In only one case in 2022 were court proceedings initiated, while another case resulted in someone receiving a police caution.
In a local election in Durham last year, an allegation was made that a woman had forged a signature on a nomination form.
The police spoke to the man whose signature was allegedly forged who confirmed that he had not signed the form.
The suspect admitted that she had forged his signature but believed that he would have supported her. She accepted a police caution for the offence.
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