Pharmacist and scientist among co-accused in former Dewsbury MP's fraud trial
Shahid Malik is one of five people on trial over the "inadequate and non-compliant" testing during the pandemic
A pharmacist, a registered scientist and his own former office manager are among the people accused of running a fraudulent Covid-19 testing firm with a former Labour minister, a court heard.
Shahid Malik is one of five people on trial over the "inadequate and non-compliant" RT Diagnostics, which prosecutors say made £6.67 million in three weeks but did not meet UK standards.
Malik, 57, who became the MP for Dewsbury in 2005 and served as a justice minister and communities minister before losing his seat in 2010, is accused of fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering.
Faisal Shoukat, 37, is charged with the same three offences. Lynn Connell, 64, Paul Moore, 56, and Alexander Zarneh, 70, are accused of fraudulent trading and causing a public nuisance.
On Thursday, a trial at Bradford Crown Court heard Shoukat was a pharmacist who ran a chain of pharmacies, and that he and Malik shared mutual contacts in Turkey where they sourced "non-compliant" components that were used in the PCR test kits they sent to customers.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said Malik and Shoukat, along with other persons, were the source of the finance behind RT Diagnostics and the setting up of the laboratory.
He told jurors Shoukat was "closely involved" in getting the business on to the gov.uk list of Covid-19 test suppliers.
Prosecutors say Malik and Shoukat shared control of a second company with a similar name, which had a bank account that was used to hold the revenue made by RT Diagnostics.
The court heard Moore had once been employed as Malik's office manager, and Malik appeared to have been his connection to the business.
Mr Sandiford said Moore, a Kirklees councillor who sits as an independent after being suspended by Labour, had a senior role in RT Diagnostics, at one point being described as its operations director, and that he is accused of telling "significant lies" in order to protect the company.
Jurors heard Zarneh was a registered scientist with the Health and Care Professions Council and was said at times to have been the clinical director at RT Diagnostics, or its head of governance.
Mr Sandiford said Zarneh was instrumental in getting RT Diagnostics on to the "all important" gov.uk list, which was how customers found it and how it made money.
The prosecutor said Zarneh is accused of telling "significant lies" during that process.
Connell was said to have managed and directed other staff at the laboratory, and been involved in a third company that was allegedly set up to take over from RT Diagnostics when it failed an inspection, jurors were told.
The trial has previously 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.
The defendants are accused of "taking advantage" of that process with the "cash cow" of RT Diagnostics.
Mr Sandiford told jurors the laboratory, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was set up in "shoddy and inadequate premises" with holes in the walls and ceilings, rubbish strewn around and even homeless people living on the floor above.
In contrast to a glossy website which "falsely" described the laboratory as modern, purpose built and fully accredited, Mr Sandiford said RT Diagnostics never completed the accreditation process.
The prosecutor said there was evidence of the company providing false negative results and that it "generated a suspiciously low number of positive results".
Mr Sandiford said RT Diagnostics failed to properly handle test samples and sold far more PCR sample collection kits to consumers that it was able to process.
"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.
"People who complained enough got told their result was negative, when in fact their sample had not been tested."
He said this meant people who ought to have been self-isolating were going out in public, believing they were free from infection when they were not.
The defendants all deny the charges and the trial continues.