Five facing charges relating to Covid-19 testing company appear in crown court

Tony Earnshaw

24 May 2024 at 0:50 pm·1-min read

Bradford Crown Court <i>(Image: Newsquest)</i> — Bradford Crown Court *(Image: Newsquest)*

A TRIAL scheduled to last up to 14 weeks has been set for five people facing charges relating to a West Yorkshire company that carried out Covid-19 tests during the pandemic.

Shahid Malik, Paul Moore, Faisal Shoukat, Lynn Connell, and Alexander Zarneh are all charged with:

Carrying on a business or company with intent to defraud creditors or for another fraudulent purpose.
Causing a public nuisance.

Malik and Shaukat are also charged with:

Concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property namely revenue generated by RT Diagnostics Ltd.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between March 3, 2021, and September 1, 2023, and relate to Dewsbury-based technical testing and analysis company RT Diagnostics Ltd.

The case is being brought by West Yorkshire Trading Standards.

Shahid Malik, 56, of Colne Road, Burnley; Paul Moore, 55, of Plover Street, Burnley; Faisal Shoukat, 37, of Saville Park, Halifax; Lynn Connell, 62, of Ash Hall, Ripponden, and Alexander Zarneh, 69, of Wood Lane, Hipperholme, Halifax, all appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday but were not asked to enter pleas.

Shoukat, Connell, and Zarneh previously pleaded not guilty at magistrates’ court.

They will enter pleas at crown court at a future hearing.

His Honour Judge Jonathan Rose allocated 14 weeks for a potential trial and listed the start date as October 20, 2025.

All five defendants were released on conditional bail.

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