Councillor short of money scammed local authority out of thousands by setting up fake heritage group to claim cash, court hears

A councillor who was 'short of money' set up a fake heritage society to scam thousands from local authority, a court heard. Jason Zadrozny, 46, an independent councillor in Nottinghamshire, named himself chairman of the Ashfield Heritage Society before applying for grants for 'good causes', which he then withdrew in cash. Prosecutors said he set up the society 'which never existed and never did anything' because he needed 'quite a bit of money, in a hurry'. Some of the cash was used to buy a house with friends, it is alleged. He also took hundreds from a classic cinema club and failed to pay tax on the income from four properties he owned, jurors were told. Zadrozny, who was first elected in 2007 and is also leader of Ashfield District Council, is on trial accused of using his position on Nottinghamshire County Council to defraud the authority.Zadrozny, who sat in the dock wearing a pink suit and tie, denies 12 counts of fraud and four counts of fraudulent evasion of income tax. Jason Zadrozny, an Independent councillor, was said to be short of money at the time of his alleged crimes He denies 12 counts of fraud and four counts of fraudulent evasion of income taxOpening the Crown's case on Tuesday, James Varley, prosecuting, said Zadrozny used his position on Nottinghamshire County Council to take 'modest' sums of money. He said he did this, in part, by setting up Ashfield Heritage Society in 2018 and then diverting funds to the society before 'withdrawing them for his own purposes'. The court heard he first opened a bank account in the name of Ashfield Heritage Society (AHS) in February 2018.He then applied for funding from the Councillors' Divisional Fund, a £5,000 pot made available to every representative by the county council, to support local organisations.Three days after setting up the account, he applied for £7,500 of funding for the group, including £3,500 from his own allocation, jurors were told. The court heard that the address on the application form was given as 213 Forest Road, which does not exist.Mr Varley said: 'He told the council this is a genuine organisation, they need some funds and they gave him some funds - but it was a scam.'. A second organisation called the Classic Cinema Club was also set up in 2018 for people who enjoyed the 'Carry On' films and was awarded £1,200 through the Councillors Divisional Fund.Mr Varley said it 'was probably legitimate when he set it up.'But he added: 'When it failed to do anything… he helped himself to the contents of that account.'He said the club never held any events and, over three days in June 2019, when the defendant's personal account was overdrawn, the money was withdrawn in cash.Mr Varley told jurors: 'The defendant, Mr Zadrozny, was a political member of what is called the Ashfield Independent Party.'The way it works in Nottinghamshire is they have a councillor's divisional fund. Each councillor is allocated up to £5,000 each year. They can allocate it to what they think are good causes.'Ashfield Heritage Society effectively started to exist on February 11, 2018. 'It was opened as an account online in the name of Ashfield Heritage Society, that's the first time the society was ever mentioned that we know of.'Mr Varley said Zadrozny nominated himself as a chairman and was the only signatory to the account, which was issued a bank card and a chequebook, but the address put on the application form does not exist.The prosecutor continued: 'Three days later, on February 14, the defendant as a county councillor at Nottinghamshire County Council applied for funding from the councillor's divisional fund.'He applied for the funding, filled in the paperwork, and used not only his own allocation, £3,500 of his own. Some of the money was allocated by some of the other councillors. Between them they asked for £7,500.'Mr Varley told the court: 'He was short of money. It does not really matter how much you earn, you can always spend a bit more if you're that sort of person.'We say that the Ashfield Heritage Society, which never existed and never did anything, was a scam set up by him because he wanted some money, particularly quite a bit of money, in a hurry.'Mr Varley alleged the money was withdrawn in cash by the defendant.Prosecutors say part of the money was used to buy a house with friends on Forest Road - the same road as the false address given. Financial records show he had previously transferred £12,000 to his friend Thomas Hollis for the house.The property was later bought for more than £70,000 by another friend, Helen Smith. When the house was sold in September 2021, for £168,000, Ms Smith paid Hollis £97,000 and more than £68,000 was 'gifted' to Zadrozny.Mr Varley said that in August 2018, the defendant asked for a further £1,600 for AHS for 'funding towards the cost of commemorative events, badges, poppies and road decorations'.The money was again withdrawn in cash and within four minutes, £1,580 had been deposited in his personal account.An investigation was launched by the council and later police after a prospective election candidate Catherine Mason started was looking into the cinema club's expenditure and came across the heritage society. The trial continues.