Met commander’s ‘abuse of power’
**Metropolitan Police Commander Ali Dizaei has been found guilty of threatening and falsely arresting a man in a dispute over money.**Dizaei was convicted of misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice at Southwark Crown Court after the argument over £600.
The court heard Waad Al-Baghdadi, 24, was arrested by Dizaei in 2008 during a row over work on the officer’s website.
Dizaei is due to be sentenced at 1500 GMT.
Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the officer was guilty of a “wholesale abuse of power” motivated by self-interest and pride.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said “criminals in uniform like Dizaei” were the greatest threat to the reputation of the police.
The dispute between the men came to a head when Mr Al-Baghdadi demanded payment from Britain’s most senior Asian officer for work on his personal website, alidizaei.com.
“Dizaei behaved like a bully and the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them”
IPCC spokesman
Mr Al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi national who has lived in the UK since 2003, told the court he confronted the police officer after seeing him drunk and dancing at the Persian Yas restaurant in Edgware Road in Kensington, west London, in July 2008.
Dizaei then produced handcuffs and arrested him.
A police doctor told the court that injuries Dizaei claimed had been caused by Mr Al-Baghdadi were probably self-inflicted.
The court also heard Dizaei claimed to have received threatening voicemails and text messages from Mr Al-Baghdadi before the incident, but had “accidentally” deleted them.
Mr Al-Baghdadi said he was left “scared” and “shocked” after the incident.
During the trial he likened the “bully” Dizaei to the movie gangster Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino in the film Scarface.
Mr Wright said once Dizaei realised inconsistencies in his account had been uncovered by detectives he attempted to get the case dropped.
Corruption threat
Dizaei is a former president of the Metropolitan Black Police Association.
He had emerged unscathed from a series of earlier inquiries, including a multimillion-pound undercover operation examining claims of corruption, fraud and dishonesty.
He has been suspended on full pay since September 2008, but now stands to be sacked from the Metropolitan Police.
Responding to the verdict, Nick Hardwick of the IPCC said: "He Dizaei} went on to lie about what had happened and, if he had been successful, Mr Al-Baghdadi may have been sent to prison.
“Dizaei behaved like a bully and the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.”
Mr Hardwick continued: “Corruption comes in many forms and remains a threat to the police service. It requires constant vigilance to fight it.”
Last November Dizaei was cleared of misusing his corporate credit card.
He had been accused of spending more than £5,000 on clothes and perfume during a trip to the US but an inquiry by Dorset Chief Constable Martin Baker found no evidence of wrongdoing.