An Iraqi former civil servant who claimed he was the victim of a racially-motivated hate campaign lost his discrimination case.

Transport and strategy officer Qassim Kazaz, of Harrow, accused teams of workers and senior managers at Brent council of launching a witchhunt against him because of his race and place of birth.

But an employment panel unanimously threw the claims out, saying there was no convincing evidence that his colleagues disliked him solely because of the colour of his skin and religion.

The Iraqi national, who was head of transport and strategy in the local authority's environment and culture department, cited numerous counts of discrimination at the 12-day employment tribunal held in Watford.

He claimed employees had called him a "f***ing Iraqi", subjected him to racially motivated bullying and conspired to oust him from his post.

Mr Kazaz, who joined the local authority in 1999, also accused other line managers of encouraging staff to make complaints against him.

The employment panel heard that tensions started in 2003, when a team of workers managed by Mr Kazaz was relocated from a council building in Vale Farm to Brent House in Wembley, where he was based.

Witnesses called to the tribunal said the staff were unhappy about the move and did not operate well under their boss's management style.

Soon after the relocation a number of employees, the majority of whom were female, accused Mr Kazaz of intimidation, bullying, sexual discrimination and negative management.

An independent investigation was launched in 2006, followed by an internal investigation in 2007, after complaints about the first set of findings.

During the two probes Mr Kazaz was temporarily suspended and in May 2007 he accepted a mutual termination of contact agreement. The termination was on the grounds of bad health and redundancy, and Mr Kazaz received a £46,000 pay off.

It was only after the deal was done that he decided to launch the racial discrimination case.

Speaking on Thursday last week - the final day of the tribunal - the chairman said it was clear there was a bad relation-ship between Mr Kazaz and other members of staff.

But he ruled that it was not racially motivated.

He said: "It is clear that a serious management issue existed in the transportation group and there was a strong mutual dislike between the team and Mr Kazaz because of the move.

"This was the primary reason for the animosity towards the claimant.

"There is no convincing evidence that his team were motivated by his race or religion. Taking all things in their totality we do not find the complaints proved."