AN aspiring Labour candidate contacted the stepfather of a sexual harassment victim after she complained about her treatment at a charity he chaired.

According to a judge, Asim Khan’s action were part of efforts instigated by another man at the Roshni charity to “place pressure” on the woman to “withdraw her claim”.

Four candidates are in the running to be Labour’s Westminster candidate in Glasgow South West, but the contest is believed to be a straight fight between Khan and left-winger Matt Kerr.

However, the internal selection has turned ugly over a row relating to the time Khan, a solicitor, spent as chair of the anti-abuse charity Roshni, which is now defunct.

In 2016, an employment tribunal ruled that an anonymous female staffer – Miss C – has been subjected to “harassment, victimisation and discrimination” by founder Ali Khan and another man, Shaukat Sultan.

Ali Khan’s actions included verbal and physical abuse, reducing the victim’s working days after she rejected his advances, threatening her with dismissal, making “sexually explicit remarks to her” and encouraging her to flirt with potential advertisers.

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Roshni and Ali Khan were ordered to jointly pay the woman around £75,000 in compensation, but she never received the money.

The judgment also found that there had been a “complete failure” by Asim Khan, as chair, to protect the claimant. He was also described as “evasive” in cross-examination and “untruthful”.

The expenses judgement also focused on claims Ali Khan had approached Miss C’s stepfather about her claim.

“We found that Mr Asim Khan had contacted the claimant’s stepfather to ascertain whether he could broker a solution to the dispute between the claimant and the first respondent [Roshni],” the judgement stated.

In the “decision and reasons” section, the judge stated: “We accept that Asim Khan contacted [the stepfather] in circumstances where he understood the claimant to be represented by a solicitor. He himself is a solicitor who appears regularly before the Employment Tribunal and he knew or ought to have known that the claimant had begun early conciliation. He would understand therefore that it was entirely inappropriate for him to act in this way.”

The judgement continued: “These actions were taken, we have found, as part of the efforts instigated by Mr Ali Khan to place pressure upon the claimant to withdraw her claim. Mr Asim Khan took those steps on behalf of the first respondent [Roshni] and so the first respondent was party to those efforts.”

Asim Khan's Roshni directorship, according to Companies House, ceased six days before the remedy hearings in August 2016. Five other directors quit days after Miss C was awarded the sum and Roshni was later dissolved.

Asim Khan went to court last week to challenge a decision by Scottish Labour which meant that over 80 party members, many of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds, would not get a vote in the contest. A judge ruled in his favour and the members will now be eligible to participate.

In a statement, Asim Khan said yesterday: "Sadly it seems my plea for an end to malicious smearing and attempt to manipulate the process haven’t stopped. I am proud of my voluntary role with Roshni and the charitable work we did for vulnerable ethnic minority communities in Glasgow.

"I was not the subject of the tribunal investigation and had actually left before it concluded. My focus is on achieving an open, transparent and democratic selection process so we can select the person best paced to deliver a Labour MP fighting for our local community."

Scottish Labour did not provide a comment.