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LEWISHAM POCA SCANDAL: PARLIAMENT STRIKES BACK


Lewisham Council’s use of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) against the Gök brothers of Meze Mangal has sparked a public backlash, a £20,000 fundraiser, and now questions in Parliament. The Big Retort... 

Brenda Dacres

What began as a fight for fairness in the Gök/POCA case has become a bit of a movement.  In the prosecution of Meze Mangal, brought under the authority of Lewisham mayor Brenda Dacres, two hardworking Turkish restaurant owners have been criminalised, had their passports seized, and now face the loss of decades of work. But people power — through a GoFundMe page — is saying, with one voice: enough. 

Since we first exposed Lewisham Council’s potential misuse of the Proceeds of Crime Act against Ahmet and Åžahin Gök, the response has been an overwhelming 500 plus donations.  The fund is closing in on £20,000, needed to meet the eye-watering legal costs driven up not by the brothers but by a public body using a draconian law to refill its own coffers.

Every donation — from a fiver to four figures — carries the same message: not on our watch.

Across social media, the story has reached hundreds of thousands.

Chefs, small-business owners and locals are united in disbelief:

“You don’t treat good people like this.” “This isn’t a crime.” "What the fu-"

The council's response: silence.

What many don’t realise that once a council secures a conviction — even for a technical planning breach — it can then pursue confiscation under POCA. 

Not on profit: but turnover.

THE LADY'S NOT FOR TURNING

The Mayor of Lewisham has dined at Meze Mangal with her entourage. Yet, today, the council she leads presses on with POCA. A route that risks destroying the very family business that helped put Lewisham’s food scene on the map. 

After a chance encounter following local canvassing in Lewisham, the Mayor told me she could not discuss the “ongoing prosecution” — a mantra I’d already heard.

I suggested we meet to talk not about the case, but about POCA policy in general. 

“After the Labour conference,” came the reply.

After that conference came and went, I followed up by email. 

“The Mayor’s position remains unchanged. It would be inappropriate to intervene in a case currently before the Courts. The Mayor will not be meeting with you on this matter.” (Charlie Hughes, Head of the Mayor’s Office.)

When I clarified that the proposed meeting concerned policy, not the case. (Hughes, again):

“A meeting hasn’t been offered to you on any subject.”

Promises made in pubs, denied in emails — the silence grows.

"POCA: Right law. Wrong target.  Can local authorities weaponise criminal law to pursue planning disputes?"


Simon Hoare MP

WESTMINSTER IS WATCHING💪

As a direct result of the media campaign following The Big Retort and the national attention surrounding this case, the matter reached the Despatch Boxes in the House of Commons.

Simon Hoare MP, Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (and former Local Government Minister), rose in defence of Commons Sense — quite literally:

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Proceeds of Crime Act was never intended to be used by local authorities as an addendum to planning enforcement. The Secretary of State may very well have seen recent media reporting around this issue. Would he undertake to look into it, and to issue guidance to local authorities that, while they have many tools at their disposal, the Proceeds of Crime Act is not one of them?”

The Secretary of State replied:

“He raises an important point. I’m happy to arrange a meeting with him and the appropriate Minister so that he can share his concerns and we can come to a resolution.”

From the back kitchen of Meze Mangal in Lewisham to the floor of Parliament, raised by The Big Retort — the question has gone national.

It’s a question the current Mayor of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres, continues to meet with silence. Meanwhile... we have been summoned to Parliament and will report on this soon.

— Coming soon in The Big Retort: Mission Creep: Impossible — The POCA Hunters.

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