Race revolt hits the Yard

The race war at Scotland Yard escalated dramatically today as black police leaders severed links with the Met's senior managers.

Members of the Metropolitan Black Police Association announced they would disengage from all meetings and had no confidence in top officers or leaders of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

The association came to its decision after the MPA announced yesterday that senior Scotland Yard officer Commander Ali Dizaei had been suspended over allegations of misconduct.

Today Alfred John, chairman of the MBPA, said there appeared to be one rule for white officers and another for those from an ethnic minority.

He pointed out that Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was being investigated over the award of £3 million of police contracts to a friend but had not been suspended. Other senior white officers had also been the subject of inquiries but had been allowed to continue in their posts.

Mr John said: "I am not saying that officers facing serious allegations should not be suspended but that it should be fair and even handed.

"Ali is completely shocked by this. He was told last week that he would not be suspended and now, without explanation, the MPA have changed the rules." He added: "We support Ali 100per cent and we are confident that these claims will turn out to be nothing. This disproportionate treatment flies in the face of the diverse communities in which we serve and we no longer possess any confidence in the leadership of the Metropolitan Police or MPA."

The association has stopped short of calling for a recruitment boycott on the Met.

Former Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick criticised Sir Ian's handling of the race row. He said: "All in all, there appears to be a rather heavy-handed approach, a sort of bullying approach to this situation rather than trying to get the parties around the table and trying to find a solution to it.

"What the Met and Police Authority should be looking at is what the likelihood is of Mr Dizaei being found guilty."

The MPA emphasised that the decision to suspend Mr Dizaei was not a "presumption of guilt".

The action to suspend the 46-year-old was taken by an emergency meeting of four members of the MPA's Professional Standards sub-committee yesterday, three of whom are members of ethnic minorities themselves.

The MPA said: "Suspension should not be taken as a presumption of guilt."

Mr Dizaei was promoted to his £90,000 role at Scotland Yard with responsibility for overseeing 10 west London boroughs only six months ago.

This year it emerged he was facing an investigation - with many others - for allegedly misusing his corporate American Express card, buying £5,000 of clothes and perfume on it during a trip to the US.

The MPA has also called in the deputy chief constable of the West Midlands force, Phil Gormley, to investigate claims Mr Dizaei advised a defence team on how to undermine a criminal case brought by the Met for death by dangerous driving.

But potentially the most serious claims relate to the arrest outside an Iranian restaurant Yas when he accused 23-year-old web designer Waad Al-Baghdadi of assaulting him.

The Crown Prosecution Service dismissed the case and the Independent Police Complaints Commission is now investigating. Its findings will be passed back to the CPS who could charge him with perverting the course of justice.

Mr Dizaei was cleared of corruption claims at the Old Bailey in 2003.

The police investigation, codenamed Operation Helios, was the most expensive inquiry yet to probe one individual officer and cost at least £2.2 million. It was later criticised by the IPCC.

Mr Dizaei was later awarded £60,000 compensation but refused to keep a low profile. He provoked further ire from senior officers when he published his account of the investigation last year in a book, entitled Not One Of Us.

Sir Ian declined to say if he had confidence in Mr Dizaei at a press briefing this week.

ALI DIZAEI'S CAREER OF CONTROVERSY

ALI DIZAEI, the cowboy boot and sunglasses-wearing bodybuilder, once joked he wore his stab vest inside Scotland Yard.

The flamboyant commander has been spied on, bugged, wrongly accused and charged - all by his own colleagues.

He was born in the Iranian city of Tehran in 1962 but spent most of his childhood in Britain.

In 1987 he embarked on a career with Thames Valley Police. He was subjected to racial abuse during his years as an officer but studied for an MA and a PhD.

By then he was vice-chairman of the National Black Police Officers Association. He joined the Met in March 1999. Later that year he was investigated over allegations of corruption, using drugs and prostitutes, and spying for Iran. But in 2003 was cleared of perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office and making false expense claims. He was reinstated and awarded £60,000 compensation.

Last year he angered bosses by singling out colleagues in his book, Not One Of Us.