Magistrate 'stole £1,400' from charitable organisation she helped to set up

Salima Hafejee allegedly misled the chairwoman of the Ali Academy into counter-signing a cheque covering the cost of the work by telling her it was for putting bars and grilles over the windows at the organisation's headquarters in Bradford.

Nicholas Worsley, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday that it was only after Hafejee's 10-year affair with fellow magistrate Tariq Mahmood ended badly and his being prosecuted for assaulting her that he informed the chairwoman about the work done at his former mistress's home in Highfield Crescent, Bradford, and an investigation began.

It was then discovered there was a fraud concerning another project funded with a 992 grant which Hafejee allegedly falsely signed off in the chairwoman's name as having been completed, claimed Mr Worsley. "As a result, the local authority was deprived of a chance of clawing back the money," he added.

Hafejee, 44, who was awarded an OBE in May last year for services to the community, denies stealing the 1,400 and two charges of fraud.

She told police she had done nothing wrong and had paid for the work at her home in cash.

Mr Worsley told the jury that Hafejee, who was then married, began an affair with Mr Mahmood in 1996. Both were involved in charitable work.

She was director of the Bradford Youth Development Partnership which rented three floors in a property owned by Mr Mahmood in Nessfield Street, Bradford.

In 2006 she was also the driving force behind the setting up of Ali (A Lifetime of Achievement). It was not a registered charity but aimed at "charitable purposes" helping young people.

She asked her friend Carmen Morris to chair the organisation, another man was treasurer or secretary but soon after went to work in London, and Mr Mahmood was the project worker, and Hafejee a committee member.

The academy moved into the ground floor of the premises in Nessfield Street and a bank account was opened, with both women having to sign the cheques.

Mr Worsley told the jury that in May, 2007 Hafejee went to Miss Morris and told her grilles and bars were needed on the windows to prevent children leaning out of them.

She agreed the work should be done and signed the cheque to KT Gates and Railings when the invoice came in, reading " to fabricate and fit window bars and grilles".

Mr Worsley claimed Hafejee had asked Keith Trout to put that on the invoice when in fact he had done 1,400 of work at her home. "He was surprised being asked this," he said. "But he agreed it because he was concerned about being paid."

Mr Worsley told the jury the Ali Academy had applied to Bradford Council's Community Participation Fund for a grant for a "Respect Me" project and was awarded 992. There were conditions attached to the grant which should be repaid if the project was not carried out, relying on the trust of those involved.

In September 2007 the project was signed off allegedly by Miss Morris as having been completed but it was not her signature.

She told the jury, under cross-examination by Imran Khan QC, defending Hafejee, that she had never told her friend to sign for her. "No-one had any right to sign my name ever," she added.

Mr Worsley said Hafejee chaired a panel used by Bradford Council to sift through such applications to decide funding and had not declared a conflict of interest when the Ali funding was considered, although no charge arose from that.

The trial continues.