Atiq Malik, who served in Queensbury, has been suspended from standing again for five years

A controversial politician who duped a resident into paying him �3,000 in exchange for a council house has been banned from standing as a councillor for five years.

Atiq Malik, who served as a Conservative councillor for the Queensbury ward between 2006 and 2010, has been disqualified for breaching Brent Council’s code of conduct.

Last week, a hearing by the Standards Board for England (SBE) was told the 48-year-old gave Shahzad Akhtar the impression he would be able to obtain a council flat for him in Colindale in exchange for money.

The father-of-four, who controversially defected from the Conservative Party to the Democratic Conservative Group, a splinter party he set up with fellow former Tory ward councillor Robert Dunwell, had been introduced to Mr Akhtar by a restaurant owner.

The board heard Mr Akhtar handed over two cheques totalling �3,041 in return for a one-bedroom flat, but despite the funds being cleared Mr Mailk claimed the cheques had bounced and refused to help him further.

He has failed to pay back the sum to date.

Malik did not attend the hearing but had denied any wrongdoing during an earlier investigation by the council.

He had told a council ethical standards officer the cheques were given to him as a loan.

But, the SBE ruled he was unfit for public office.

Mr Malik, who ran as an independent candidate for the Brent Central seat in 2010, is no stranger to controversy.

In June 2008 he was reported to the SBE for the first time but cleared six months later.

Seven months later he controversially blogged on a website that he believed Sharia Law should be an option in the UK.

Under the law, which is enforced in several Muslim countries, unmarried women who had sex or married woman who have affairs should be whipped.