‘Spectacular fall from grace’ of ex-magistrate guilty of fraud

Salima Hafejee, 45, is now unlikely to ever receive the OBE she was awarded in 2009 for services to the community in Bradford.

Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday she was under investigation by police at the time the award was made which was later reported to the Cabinet office.

Hafejee recently of Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton, was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of the offence of fraud involving payment of a £992 grant by Bradford Council to the Ali Academy, a charitable organisation of which she was on the committee.

Nicholas Worsley prosecuting said the organisation did work with young people and the grant was intended for a project called Respect Me Please after the academy submitted an application.

The money was meant to be repaid if the project was not completed. Subsequently Hafejee submitted an end of project report indicating the work had been done as planned and forged the name of the chairwoman, Carmen Morris, when no such work had been done.

Imran Khan, representing Hafejee, said the conviction had concluded a “spectacular fall from grace” for a woman who had relished her community work.

She was a magistrate for 10 years but had faced the full glare of publicity at an aborted trial and then a retrial when details were given about her affair with another magistrate who had founded the Ali Academy.

As a result of her conviction she had lost her good name and the trust and confidence of the community.

The application was made legitimately and she had made no money from it herself but had impulsively filled in the report when under a great deal of work and other pressures. The grant money was still available and it was hoped it would be repaid to the council.

Sentencing Hafejee to 28 days in prison suspended for 12 months with 100 hours unpaid work, Judge Jennifer Kershaw QC said the grant was paid up front on trust and the council relied on the honesty of those at such charitable and voluntary organisations to complete the work indicated.

She said Hafejee, then of exemplary standing, could have explained that the work had not been done and the money returned but instead she chose to submit a false form preventing the repayment to the council.

As a result of her conviction she had forfeited her public standing and her OBE.