Ex-MP 'instrumental' in bogus Covid firm - court

Shahid Malik was Labour MP for Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010 and served as justice minister under Gordon Brown

A former justice minister was "instrumental" in setting up a bogus coronavirus testing firm which returned a "suspiciously low" number of positive tests, a court heard.

Shahid Malik, Labour MP for Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010 who served under Gordon Brown, is on trial at Bradford Crown Court along with four others involved in the business.

Mr Malik, 57, is accused of running a fraudulent business and public nuisance alongside Dewsbury East councillor Paul Moore, 56, former Halifax councillor Faisal Shoukat, 37, Dr Alexander Zarneh, 70, and Lynn Connell, 64.

Mr Malik and Mr Shoukat are also accused of money laundering. The defendants have denied all of the allegations.

Earlier, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC told jurors Mr Malik and his "close associate" Mr Shoukat, a pharmacist, had a shared a mutual contact in Turkey from whom they sourced "inadequate and non-compliant" PCR test kits and components.

Mr Malik, of Colne Road in Burnley, Mr Shoukat, of Saville Park in Halifax, and their contact in Turkey were the "driving force" and source of funding behind RT Diagnostics, a company set up to provide PCR tests and results.

They also had "some involvement" in the day-to-day running of the business and its laboratory, which the court previously heard operated "in shoddy and inadequate" premises with holes in the ceilings.

Dewsbury East councillor Paul Moore and former Halifax councillor Faisal Shoukat

According to Mr Sandiford, Mr Malik was "instrumental" in setting up the company.

Along with Mr Shoukat, he set up another similarly titled firm, Real Time Diagnostics Ltd, with the sole purpose of opening a bank account into which funds from RT Diagnostics were transferred.

The pair were also signatories on the bank account, Mr Sandiford said.

They later "played a part" in setting up a third company, Avery Labs Limited, fronted by Mr Moore, "when things went wrong for RT Diagnostics", the prosecutor added.

"That was to take over where RT was letting off."

'Significant lies'

Jurors previously heard how RT Diagnostics was removed from a government website listing private providers of PCR tests on 15 June 2021.

Of the 123,104 tests it reported to the NHS Test and Trace service, a "suspiciously low" number of just 45 were positive, Mr Sandiford said.

Some of the tests were "simply dumped in a room", with people's lives and health potentially endangered as a result of the "false negative results", he added.

The court was told Mr Moore, who previously worked as Mr Malik's office manager during his time as an MP, held a "senior role" in the operation of RT Diagnostics and its laboratory, with his role listed as operations director or logistics manager.

Mr Moore, of Plover Street in Burnley, "told significant lies in order to try and protect RT Diagnostics" before later fronting Avery Labs, Mr Sandiford said.

Ms Connell, of Wagon Farm in Ripponden, was also said to have held a senior position in the firm, managing and directing other staff and dealing with "disgruntled" customers. She too became involved in Avery Labs, according to Mr Sandiford.

The RT Diagnostics site, on Lister Lane off Francis Street in Halifax

Dr Zarneh, a scientist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, was said to be the clinical director and head of governance at RT Diagnostics and "instrumental" in making applications for accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), which saw the firm added to what Mr Sandiford described as the government's "all-important" list of private test providers.

Once on the list, money "came running in", turning the business into a "cash cow".

Mr Sandiford said Dr Zarneh, of Wood Lane in Hipperholme, Halifax, had told "significant lies" to UKAS about his own role in the operation and the process RT Diagnostics was using to conduct testing.

The court heard Dr Zarneh told investigators from West Yorkshire Trading Standards he had "no involvement" in the botched laboratory or any operation aspect of the business.

Instead, he claimed his role was merely limited to "advising or assisting with the UKAS application".

However, Mr Sandiford showed the court numerous documents which showed Dr Zarneh holding senior positions at RT Diagnostics, including head of clinical oversight, director of governance and clinical director.

'Tests not done at all'

Mr Sandiford told the court the application for accreditation also told "significant lies" about the laboratory and the tests being done there.

Although the company did purchase an assay used to detect the presence of Covid-19 which was approved for use in the UK, the maximum number of tests that could be performed using it was 26,784.

That would leave 96,320 tests unaccounted for as the other assays the company purchased were not approved in this country, or for international travel testing for holidaymakers.

Mr Shoukat was aware some of the assays RT Diagnostics had purchased were not approved in the UK before testing began, Mr Sandiford said.

He told the court tests conducted at the firm's Halifax laboratory were "either not done at all, or not done with a suitable assay", nor was there "sufficient capacity" at the facility to conduct more than 120,000 tests.

The trial continues.

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