One of the most senior Muslim police officers in Britain was today accused of two criminal offences over a scuffle in a restaurant.
Metropolitan Police Commander Ali Dizaei, 47, will be charged with misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice.
Dizaei, president of the National Black Police Association, was suspended from the force last September.
The allegations were one of three inquiries under way into the senior officer's conduct.
They followed an investigation by officials the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The claims are linked to an incident outside the Middle Eastern Yas restaurant in Kensington, south west London, on July 18 last year.
Dizaei, who was wearing his uniform, arrested a young businessman after a row in which he claimed he was poked with the mouthpiece of a hookah water pipe.
It is the second time Dizaei has been accused of perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
He stood trial at the Old Bailey in 2003 after it was claimed he lied about vandalism to his car. He was cleared on both counts.
Solicitor Gaon Hart, of the CPS special crime division, said: "These charges relate to an incident in which Mr Dizaei, in his capacity as a police officer, arrested a man on allegations including assault. A decision not to charge that individual was made by the CPS in August 2008.
"Following an investigation by the IPCC, a file was submitted to me in November 2008. I asked the IPCC to undertake further inquiries and I received the results of those inquiries this month."
Alfred John, chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, said the allegations are "outrageous".
He said his friend and colleague was "fully vindicated" in 2003, questioned the motives of his accusers and highlighted the cost to the taxpayer.
Mr John said: "The National Black Police Association and the Metropolitan Black Police Association fully support Commander Dizaei during the course of this prosecution.
"We will call to account those who use the public purse and the law to settle their personal vendettas."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article