Founder of Kings science academy and two employees found guilty of fraudulently obtaining £150,000 from education grants

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The founder of a flagship free school and two staff members have been told they could be jailed after being found guilty of fraudulently obtaining about £150,000 from government grants.

Sajid Hussain Raza, 43, Shabana Hussain, 40, and Daud Khan, 44, were convicted by a jury at Leeds crown court of making payments into their bank accounts from Department for Education grants given to help set up the Kings science academy in Bradford in 2011.

The defendants showed no emotion as the jury foreman returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all charges. The jury of five men and seven women had been deliberating for just over a day after hearing evidence in the six-week trial.

Judge Christopher Batty told the defendants: “You have been convicted of serious offences and I am very much considering custody in each of your cases.”

The academy was praised by the then prime minister, David Cameron, during a high-profile visit in March 2012. It has since become part of Dixons Academies Charitable Trust and has been renamed Dixons Kings academy.



The trial heard that Raza, the school’s founder and principal, used some of the money to make mortgage repayments on rental properties he owned to alleviate his financial problems. But he told the jury the suggestion he used public money to cover his debts was “unbelievable”.

The fraudulent activity continued for three years, between November 2010 and December 2013, despite senior civil servants expressing concern about his leadership and financial management.



Raza was found guilty of four counts of fraud, three counts of false accounting and two counts of obtaining money by deception.



Hussain, a teacher and Raza’s sister, was convicted of one count of fraud and one count of obtaining property by deception.



Khan, the school’s financial director, was found guilty of two counts of fraud and three counts of false accounting.



Kings science academy was among the first wave of free schools set up as part of a flagship education policy introduced by Michael Gove after the 2010 general election.