'Cash cow': Covid samples left untested as staff ‘ran amok’ at ex-Yorkshire MP’s firm, trial told

Former Labour Minister Shahid Malik is one of five people on trial over RT Diagnostics, which prosecutors say was a “cash cow” set up to take advantage of the Government’s expanding test and trace system in March 2021.

One former employee said that she was instructed to tell customers their tests were negative if they complained about not receiving their result, while another said the company was unable to cope with the “sheer volume” of samples coming in.

Prosecutors say RT Diagnostics, which made £6.67 million in three weeks, was set up in “shoddy and inadequate premises” and gave out false negative results to customers.

Malik, 57, who became the MP for Dewsbury in 2005 and was a justice minister and communities minister before losing his seat in 2010, is accused of fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering.

Prosecutors say he was the “driving force” behind the company with pharmacist Faisal Shoukat, 37, who 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 Wednesday, Bradford Crown Court heard evidence from Amber Morley, who worked as an administrator at the company for around six weeks between June and July 2021.

Ms Morley said the premises, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, were “like a building site” and staff did not wear personal protective equipment (PPE) every day.

She said the “phones never stopped ringing” with complaints and the email inbox had over 1,000 unread messages at one point, with many people either complaining that they had not received their test results or that part of the sample kit was missing.

She said staff were told by a manager that, if a customer was chasing up a result after 24 hours, they could tell them their test was negative.

“We were told they were all tested and if it wasn’t positive on the system they were sent elsewhere so we would never see a positive one,” she said.

Ms Morley told the court that some employees refused to use one room because it appeared to have untested samples lying around in boxes.

She said: “It was never confirmed officially but they looked like used samples in the tubes.

“After we complained, they moved it. There was a few of us (who complained) because it was just disgusting.”

A former packing supervisor at RT Diagnostics said that the company employed teenage boys who “ran amok” and that untested sample kits were left in boxes because the firm was unable to cope with the “sheer volume” coming in.

Jennifer Duncan said that during her time at the firm, the number of people she was supervising went from nine to 20, and that the “vast majority” of the new employees were “aged between 16 and 18”.

She said this “caused things to go downhill” and that ultimately she left the supervisor role “so that I didn’t have to deal with the younger ones because it was stressing me out”.

Ms Duncan told the court: “It was the younger ones, they weren’t listening to me, they were running amok.”

Asked about her claims that untested sample kits were being left in boxes, she said: “I think they meant well, it was just way too much more than what they thought.

“The sheer volume of tests that were being requested, and even bigger volumes of ones coming back, it was just overflow.

“I believe they had good intentions, they most likely were wanting to test them but they weren’t. They laid there.”

The defendants all deny the charges and the trial continues.