Former Labour MP cleared as ex-councillor is convicted of running sham Covid testing lab after judge acquits amid jury-tampering fallout

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026 · last updated 9 October 2026.

A former Labour MP was cleared of all charges while former Labour councillor Faisal Shoukat was convicted of running Halifax-based RT Diagnostics, a bogus Covid testing company that pulled in £6.67 million over three weeks by abusing the government's test-and-trace scheme with substandard kits imported from Turkey. Judge Chris Smith, who took over the case after a jury-tampering allegation led to the jury being discharged, denounced the scheme, saying "profit was put before professionalism and public safety."

Samples went untested and were left stacked in a room — when customers complained, they were simply told their results were negative.

Former Labour justice minister Shahid Malik, a co-founder of the firm, was acquitted of all charges by the judge after the jury was discharged following a jury-tampering allegation.