Ex-councillor guilty of running sham Covid-19 lab
Former councillor Faisal Shoukat has been found guilty of running a fraudulent Covid-19 testing laboratory that failed to meet UK standards. The court heard that the business prioritized profit over public safety, with evidence showing poor lab conditions and suspicious test results.
Why it matters
Exposes the risks of private sector involvement in public health crises and the failure of regulatory oversight during the pandemic.
Image caption, Faisal Shoukat, pictured leaving court, previously sat on Calderdale Council
A former councillor has been found guilty of running a bogus coronavirus testing laboratory during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Faisal Shoukat, who served on Calderdale Council, was convicted of causing public nuisance, fraudulent trading and money laundering after a trial at Bradford Crown Court.
Four other people on trial alongside Shoukat - former justice minister Shahid Malik, Lynn Connell, Paul Moore and Dr Alexander Zarneh - were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The verdicts were returned by His Honour Judge Chris Smith after the jury was discharged in April during their deliberations, when one member of the panel was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
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