Boss of bogus Covid-19 testing lab facing jail

A former councillor who made more than £1.5m running a bogus Covid-19 testing centre has been warned he is facing jail.

Faisal Shoukat, 39, was found guilty of causing public nuisance, fraudulent trading and money laundering for his role as director of Halifax-based RT Diagnostics.

During his trial Bradford Crown Court heard how tests were simply "dumped in a room" and fake negative results sent to customers, with prosecutors describing the firm as a "cash cow" set up to take advantage of the government's expanding test and trace system in March 2021.

His Honour Judge Chris Smith said he was keeping "very much an open mind" ahead of sentencing on 4 December.

On Thursday the judge returned verdicts on the five defendants in the case after the jury was discharged in April, when one member was arrested on suspiscion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Shoukat's co-defendants, Shahid Malik, the former justice minister and MP for Dewsbury, ex-Dewsbury councillor Paul Moore, Lynn Connell and Dr Alexander Zarneh were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Shoukhat, who was a serving Labour councillor on Calderdale Council at the time of the offending, was the only defendant to be found guilty.

On the final day of a two-day hearing to outline the reasons for his verdicts, Judge Smith said "many thousands" of the samples sent to the RT Diagnostics laboratory were not tested.

He said it was "inevitable" people became infected with Covid-19 as a result of mixing with people who received a false negative from RT Diagnostics, adding that "at the very least an unnecessary and serious risk of infection arose".

James Pound, executive director of innovation and compliance at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said: "This case represents a serious breach of trust during a period when people depended on accurate Covid‑19 testing to protect themselves and their communities.

"By putting profit above public safety, those involved undermined confidence in vital public‑health measures and exposed individuals to unnecessary risk."

During his ruling, Judge Smith said the firm's laboratory "simply couldn't cope" with the number of tests coming in.

Between May and July 2021 it reported 138,738 tests, but only 45 of these were positive, with 138,692 showing as negative and one indeterminate.

However, the money it was generating as the cheapest provider of Covid-19 travel tests "operated to distract [Shoukat] from making a proper assessment as to his own capabilities", the judge said.

The trial previously heard RT Diagnostics generated £6.67m in 31 days between 16 May and 16 June 2021.

Jurors were told he and Mr Malik were paid around £1.5m each in dividends from the company.

Judge Smith concluded Shoukat "knew or at the very least suspected" the money made "represented in part the proceeds of his own criminal offending".

However, the court heard the former Labour MP was not involved in the day-to-day running of the company and lived outside of the UK for part of its short-lived tenure.

As a result, Judge Smith concluded he could not be sure Mr Malik was aware RT Diagnostics had been providing an unreliable testing service, or was distributing false test results.

Thursday's verdicts came nearly 12 months after the trial began.

Originally expected to last three months, the case experienced numerous setbacks and delays.

After the jury was discharged, Shoukat challenged Judge Smith's decision to rule on the case himself, but his application was dismissed at the Court of Appeal last month.

Granting Shoukat bail ahead of sentencing, Judge Smith warned him: "I'm keeping very much an open mind as to what the right sentence is in this case.

"All options remain open. There's a lot of information I need to consider."

Mr Malik, 58, of Colne Rd, Burnley, was found not guilty of causing a public nuisance, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

Speaking on Thursday he said he was "profoundly relieved and grateful" after "perhaps the darkest chapter of my life".

Ms Connell, 65, of Wagon Farm, Ripponden, Mr Moore, 57, of Plober Street, Burnley, and Dr Zarneh, 71, of Wood Lane, Halifax, were all found not guilty of causing a public nuisance and fraudulent trading.

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