Portsmouth MPs to return donations from convicted criminal
Portsmouth’s two Labour MPs are handing back donations from a man convicted of actual bodily harm, after it emerged the party had accepted £40,000 from him.
The money came from businessman Abdul Sattar Shere-Mohammod, 55, also known as Shere Sattar. He was convicted of actual bodily harm in 2022 and removed from Labour later that year.
In June last year, he made two donations of £5,000 each to a crowdfunding page called “Stephen Morgan’s Election Fighting Fund”. The page said it was raising “money for Portsmouth Labour Party to help re-elect Stephen Moran…and support ongoing campaigns”.
Shere-Mohammod also gave £5,000 directly to Portsmouth Labour Party. The £15,000 total was not declared to the Electoral Commission, even though local party donations over £2,320 must be reported.
Labour said the Portsmouth South MP had not been aware of Shere-Mohammod’s conviction.
The party said that because the crowdfunding page stated donations would also support other campaigns in Portsmouth, the money could not be considered a direct donation to Morgan and did not need to be declared in his register of interests.
Shere-Mohammod also donated £10,000 to Southampton Test MP Satvir Kaur and £5,000 to Portsmouth North MP Amanda Martin. Both declared these donations in their registers of interests.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Action has been taken to ensure these donations are returned in full.”
It is understood Amanda Martin MP has taken action to return the £5,000 donation she received. The cash given to Portsmouth Labour Party via the fundraising page will also be returned.
Labour said an administrative error meant the local party donation was not correctly registered with the Electoral Commission, but this will be rectified and published in the Q2 2025 register.
It is also understood Stephen Morgan previously asked the Registrar for Members’ Interests if such a donation needed to be declared and was advised it did not. He has now contacted the Registrar again to clarify whether a declaration should be made.
Shere-Mohammod was expelled from Labour after it was told about his conviction, and that there must be no suggestion Morgan or Martin knew about the offence.
Both MPs were approached for comment.