A PROMINENT East Lancashire community leader has been charged with six counts of sexual assault, it has emerged.
Junaid Qureshi MBE, 60, of Blackburn, was arrested at Manchester Airport in October, and now it has been revealed police have charged him with the six alleged offences against a 25-year-old woman.
The former non-executive director of NHS Blackburn with Darwen has been bailed to appear at Bolton Magistrates’ Court on April 20.
He stepped down as chief executive officer of the Ethnic Minority Development Association, a Blackburn-based organisation linking to 78 different community groups, after being charged.
At the time of his arrest, he was also a board member of housing association Prospect Homes, which runs Twin Valley Homes and Housing Pendle, a governor at Blackburn College and a board member of the University of Central Lancashire.
He was awarded the MBE in 1999 for work in community relations.
Mr Qureshi was arrested as he arrived back from Pakistan at Manchester Airport on October 30 2008, accused of a series of sex assaults over months since May 2008.
A statement from EMDA said Mr Qureshi had been suspended on full pay.
It read: “Members of the executive committee have recently become aware of certain allegations of impropriety.
"We take such matters very seriously.
"However, we also note that all people are innocent until proven guilty."
As CEO of EMDA, Mr Qureshi is consulted by Blackburn Council’s Local Strategic Partnership, but has no other roles with the council Both Blackburn College and Prospect Homes said they would be reviewing Mr Qureshi’s position.
College Principal Ian Clinton said: “Mr Qureshi is a college governor and has been for many years.
"We don’t have any governors’ meetings scheduled for the next two or three weeks, but I will be meeting the chairman of the board on Monday.
“Of course, we have to assume he is innocent until proven guilty, but the normal process for staff, governors and students in this kind of situation is that suspension would be considered, on the basis of allowing the individual to deal with their personal matters.”
Phil Richards, group chief executive of Prospect Homes, said: “I will need to speak to the chairman and decide what action, if any, will be taken, in line with the members’ code of conduct.
"He has been on our board since our inception two years ago, and was a member of the shadow board before that.”
Last month, Mr Qureshi stepped down as a non-executive director of NHS Blackburn with Darwen, the borough’s primary care trust, half-way through his four-year term on its board, citing personal reasons.
He was also a member of the board on the old East Lancashire Health Authority, which covered the entire of the region, before it was disbanded in 2000 to make way for new health structures.
Mr Qureshi sat as a non-executive director at the Lancashire and Cumbria Strategic Health Authority, but is not connected with NHS North West, which replaced it in 2002.
