Published 9 hours ago • loading... • Updated 9 hours ago
Ex-councillor guilty of running sham Covid-19 lab
Faisal Shoukat was convicted after prosecutors said RT Diagnostics issued false negatives and reported just 45 positives from more than 123,000 tests.
Former councillor Faisal Shoukat was convicted of fraudulent trading, causing public nuisance, and money laundering following a trial at Bradford Crown Court regarding the bogus Covid testing laboratory RT Diagnostics.
Prosecutors claimed the firm was a "cash cow" set up to exploit the Government's test and trace system, generating £6.67 million in three weeks while operating in "shoddy and inadequate premises" in Halifax.
The laboratory provided false negative results, with only 45 positive reports from more than 123,000 samples submitted between May and July 2021, while staff dumped untested samples in a room on the premises.
His Honour Judge Chris Smith cleared former Justice Minister Shahid Malik and three others of all charges after discharging the jury in April due to alleged tampering, then delivering verdicts himself.
Malik stated the verdict marks the end of a "painstaking five-year judicial process," expressing profound relief at being found not guilty after maintaining his innocence throughout the ordeal.