Judge Christopher Smith acquitted former MP Iqbal Malik of charges related to fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance, and money laundering in connection with RT Diagnostics, a company accused of profiting from false COVID-19 test results. The case, which began at Bradford Crown Court this year, was continued without a jury after an allegation of jury tampering led to the discharge of the original panel. Prosecutors claimed that RT Diagnostics operated in substandard conditions and provided misleading test outcomes; however, Malik’s defense argued his involvement was minimal and mostly financial. Despite generating £6.67 million in three weeks, the company's practices raised suspicions among investigators due to its suspiciously low number of positive results reported to national databases.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-08,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Shahid Malik, a 58-year-old former Labour MP for Dewsbury and ex-minister who served under Gordon Brown's government, was cleared of charges related to his involvement in RT Diagnostics, a fraudulent COVID-19 testing company. Prosecutors alleged that the firm was set up as a "cash cow" to take advantage of the UK government’s expanding test-and-trace system starting in March 2021. The case against Malik and four others began at Bradford Crown Court last October, but the jury was discharged due to an allegation of tampering in April. Judge Christopher Smith then continued the trial without a jury and found Malik not guilty of fraudulent trading, causing public nuisance, and money laundering. In contrast, Faisal Shoukat, a pharmacist and former Labour councillor, was convicted on all charges. The company reportedly submitted over 138,000 test results to the national database between May and July 2021, with only 45 positive cases, suggesting significant irregularities in their operations.
Written for “Covid Testing Fraud Trial” on 2026-10-08,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 65739 · logged 2026-10-08
The 58-year-old, who became the MP for Dewsbury in 2005 and was a justice minister and communities minister before losing his seat in the 2010 election, was one of five people charged over the company, which prosecutors said was a “cash cow” set up to take advantage of the Government’s expanding test and trace system in March 2021.
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prosecutors → become → March
Earlier this year, following months of evidence at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Christopher Smith discharged the jury while it was deliberating following an allegation of jury tampering.
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it → follow → tampering
One juror was arrested.
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juror → arrest → ?
Judge Smith took the decision to continue the trial without the jury, with him deciding on the verdicts.
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him → take → verdicts
On Thursday, he cleared Mr Malik of fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering.
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he → clear → nuisance
The court heard Mr Malik started the business with pharmacist and former Labour councillor Faisal Shoukat, 39, when the third national lockdown was ending in March 2021.
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lockdown → hear → March
Shoukat was found guilty of all three offences.
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Shoukat → find → offences
Lynn Connell, 64, a manager at the company, and registered scientist Alexander Zarneh, 70, who was its clinical director, were also cleared of the same two offences.
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who → register → offences
Prosecutors said RT Diagnostics, which made £6.67 million in three weeks, was set up in “shoddy and inadequate premises” in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and gave out false negative results to customers.
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which → say → customers
Defence barrister Jonathan Laidlaw KC said that Mr Malik’s role in the business had been “very limited indeed” and that he had acted as “a facilitator – putting the money up and making introductions”.
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he → say → introductions
Giving his closing speech to jurors in March, Mr Laidlaw said Mr Malik never went to the premises when it was in operation.
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it → give → operation
He told the court that for most of the time the business was operating, Mr Malik was out of the country and there was no evidence he was told about any of its issues while he was abroad.
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he → tell → issues
Mr Laidlaw said the fact that the former MP had made money from RT Diagnostics “can’t possibly be the basis for a guilty verdict”.
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MP → say → verdict
The court heard that as the third national lockdown was ending in March 2021, the Government was looking to expand its test and trace system by increasing the number of laboratories offering PCR testing.
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Government → hear → testing
The defendants were accused of “taking advantage” of that process with an “inadequate and non-compliant” testing company.
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defendants → accuse → company
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the Halifax laboratory was set up in “shoddy and inadequate premises” with holes in the walls and ceilings and rubbish strewn around.
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laboratory → say → walls
Jurors heard earlier in the trial that the company employed “numerous young people who had little or no training in the handling of Covid-19 samples” and set them to work with no social distancing and no personal protective equipment.
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who → hear → distancing
The prosecutor said there was evidence of the company providing false negative results and that it “generated a suspiciously low number of positive results”.
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it → say → results
Just 45 out of more than 123,000 test results submitted to the national database between May and July 2021 were reported to be positive, the court heard.
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court → submit → May
Mr Sandiford said RT Diagnostics failed to properly handle test samples and sold far more PCR sample collection kits to consumers than it was able to process.
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it → say → consumers
“Because of that, some of the test samples that were returned by consumers to the laboratory were not tested but simply dumped in a room on the premises,” he told jurors.
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he → return → jurors
He said this meant people who ought to have been self-isolating were going out in public.
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who → say → public
The trial started in October last year and jurors were sent out to start their deliberations in March.
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jurors → start → March
In April, they were discharged after an allegation of jury tampering.
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they → discharge → tampering
Judge Smith’s ruling that he could deliver verdicts himself was challenged by Shoukat, but last week three judges at the Court of Appeal refused him leave to appeal.
uncertain
judges → deliver → leave
The judges also lifted reporting restrictions on the case.
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judges → lift → case
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