A former Labour minister, Shahid Malik, is on trial with four others over RT Diagnostics, a Halifax-based Covid-19 testing firm described by prosecutors as inadequate and non-compliant. They allege the company generated about £6.67 million in three weeks but did not meet UK standards. Malik, 57, who represented Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010 as an MP and held roles as a justice minister and communities minister, faces charges including fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering. Co-defendants include pharmacist Faisal Shoukat, 37, and Lynn Connell, 64; Paul Moore, 56; and Alexander Zarneh, 70, each accused of fraudulent trading and causing a public nuisance. Jurors have heard the Halifax site was described as shoddy, with a suspiciously low number of positive results.

Caroline Pycroft, 64, told the court she bought Day 2, Day 5 and Day 8 test kits for herself and her husband in June 2021 after finding RT Diagnostics on the gov.uk list of Covid-19 suppliers, choosing it for being the cheapest option. She said the packaging looked scruffy: bags delivered in jiffy bags with handwritten names and addresses rather than printed labels. The couple sent samples for Day 2; the husband received a negative result, she did not, and her Day 2 result did not appear on the firm’s portal. They also received negative Day 5 results, and the Day 8 kits were missing a piece of equipment, so they could not perform the tests. After posting about a negative result online, she was contacted by a woman named Lynn from RT Diagnostics who blamed an IT glitch. Pycroft accepted a refund offer. Later the caller from the accounts department offered a “goodwill gesture” in exchange for taking the post down; she recorded the conversation and later reported the matter to the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Accreditation Service and Trading Standards.

The trial has heard that, as the third national lockdown was ending in March 2021, the government sought to expand its test-and-trace network by increasing PCR testing capacity. Prosecutors say RT Diagnostics took advantage of that situation to generate revenue. All defendants deny the charges, and the case continues at Bradford Crown Court.