A MAN last year found to have defamed Gwent AM Mohammad Asghar has been declared bankrupt.

Mohammad Hayat was ordered to pay £45,000 to the South Wales East assembly member after he circulated a dossier containing false claims against him.

Mr Hayat was also ordered to pay the same amount to Mr Asghar's co-claimant Abdul Mujahid, but claimed he had no assets to pay the money, and made a number of proposals to both men in terms of settling the dispute.

Land Registry records showed Mr Hayat owned at least one property though, and the claimants refused to accept his offers.

At a hearing held in Newport County Court at Clarence Place on Monday, district judge Morgan Jenkins ruled he had no choice but to declare Mr Hayat, who represented himself and did not provide any proof of his assets, bankrupt.

It means Mr Hayat's house and other possessions, including car and luxury items, can be sold to cover the debts.

In his ruling district judge Jenkins said: "I have been driven there fore to the conclusion that the creditors (Mr Asghar and Mr Mujahid) have not acted unreasonably in refusing to accept the proposals advanced by Mr Hayat."

He added: "I find that Mr Hayat has no reasonably prospect of being able to pay this debt, nor has he made a reasonable offer to secure or compound the debt or that such offer has been unreasonably refused.

"It follows therefore that I must make Mr Hayat bankrupt and that he must pay the creditor's costs of the petition, to be assessed if not agreed."

Mr Asghar welcomed the decision.

“I am pleased with this result and relieved that this long, costly and arduous case has come to an end,” he said.

“It has been a long process and I am very sorry that it proved necessary.

"However, I had no option but to defend my honour and my integrity.”

“Justice has prevailed and look forward to getting on with my job and serving the people of South Wales East to the best of my ability as I have always done."

Mr Asghar - popularly known as Oscar - was first elected on the South Wales East regional list on a Plaid Cymru ticket in 2007 and was the first AM to cross the floor when he defected to the Conservatives in 2009. Despite controversy around his defection, he was re-elected as a Conservative in 2011 and again this May.