'We weren't perfect', says bogus Covid lab accused

An ex-politician accused of running a bogus coronavirus testing firm has told a court he "never said we were absolutely bob-on" in its operation.

Faisal Shoukat, who served as a Labour councillor on Calderdale Council, is on trial at Bradford Crown Court along with four others involved in RT Diagnostics - including the company's co-director, former justice minister Shahid Malik.

The defendants are accused of running a fraudulent business and public nuisance. Mr Shoukat, a pharmacist from Halifax, and Mr Malik, from Burnley, are also accused of money laundering.

The defendants have denied all of the charges.

Prosecutors have alleged Halifax-based RT Diagnostics "purported to be a testing laboratory" when in reality tests were "dumped in a room" with customers sent fake negative results for the deadly virus, thereby endangering people's health.

Medical safety inspectors previously told the trial the firm's laboratory at Park Works "looked like a building site", with the number of positive tests it returned also described as "suspiciously low".

On Wednesday Mr Shoukat, 39, was questioned about a video published by The Sun newspaper which showed employees leaving a box of allegedly untested samples in a quarantine room where a cement mixer had also been left.

Mr Shoukat disagreed with a suggestion from prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford that such a move was "unhygienic", telling jurors: "It was waste and the room was being refurbished. The sample itself was sealed."

"I can assure you that samples weren't being dumped," he added.

Mr Shoukat said staff using scissors and craft knives to open test kits was "how we would typically open up a sample" and commonplace among other laboratories.

He also defended procedures at the site, which the prosecution alleged fell short of what was told to an accreditation body in order for the company to be able to advertise itself as a test provider and generate income.

The trial previously heard how RT Diagnostics made £6.674m in just 31 days between 16 May and 16 June 2021.

"As the procedure became busier we developed, our dealings had to change," said Mr Shoukat.

"It's been framed that a bunch of young men sat around with craft knives. You have a sample opening room with employees wearing PPE opening samples."

Mr Shoukat said there was "no hoodwinking" of the accreditation body, UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service).

Asked why the business did not put a pause on its operations given its challenges, he replied: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We tried our best to cope, we weren't perfect.

"I have never said we were absolutely bob-on. We had to adapt, we had to change."

Mr Shoukat, of Savile Park, is the first defendant to give evidence.

The trial, which is scheduled to last until March, continues.

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