Jason Zadrozny quits as council leader after fraud and tax evasion conviction

A disgraced council leader who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud after scamming a local authority out of thousands of pounds has resigned.

Jason Zadrozny, 46, was found guilty at Northampton Crown Court on Monday of nine counts of fraud and four counts of fraudulent evasion of income tax. Jurors cleared him of three further fraud charges.

The former leader of Ashfield District Council had denied establishing a fake heritage organisation in order to defraud Nottinghamshire County Council.

Ashfield District Council stated on Tuesday that it will elect a new leader after Zadrozny stepped down from his role and resigned from the Ashfield Independents party.

A spokesperson for Ashfield District Council said: “We are aware of the reports that Councillor Jason Zadrozny is stepping down as leader of the council and as a member of the Ashfield Independent Group.

“The council is looking at governance options that would elect a new leader as soon as possible.

“We will confirm details once those arrangements are in place. In the meantime, all council services will continue uninterrupted.”

The council said Zadrozny has not resigned as a councillor.

Prosecutors told a four-week trial that Zadrozny, who was first elected to Ashfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council in 2007, helped himself to cash from the Ashfield Heritage Society, which he set up in February 2018.

Jurors were also told Zadrozny was a landlord who did not pay tax on income from four of his properties.

Opening the Crown’s case at the beginning of the trial, prosecutor James Varley KC said Ashfield Heritage Society did not exist.

Mr Varley told the court: “He told the council ‘this is a genuine organisation, they need some funds’ and they gave him some funds, but it was a scam.”

Zadrozny told the jury he did not keep the money for himself and gave cash from the heritage society to Tony Brewer, a former Ashfield District Council chairman who died from Covid in 2020, to repair war memorials.

But the Crown said funding allocated to the society was withdrawn in cash by the defendant, while the Classic Cinema Club created by Zadrozny “was probably legitimate when he set it up” although he later helped himself to its funds.

The court heard £9,100 was withdrawn in cash from the Ashfield Heritage Society account, while £1,200 was withdrawn from the cinema club account.

Both organisations were funded by the councillors’ divisional fund of Nottinghamshire County Council, which is meant to be used for good causes.

Ashfield MP Lee Anderson and fellow Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick, who represents Newark, issued statements after Zadrozny’s conviction, with Mr Jenrick describing the councillor as “the biggest stain on Nottinghamshire politics for a decade”.

Mr Anderson had called for Zadrozny to step down and said: “He is a disgrace to our area and I feel for the thousands of people who put their trust in him at the ballot box – they were quite clearly duped by a sinister and manipulative con artist.”

Zadrozny was told by Judge David Herbert KC after he was convicted that an immediate prison sentence is possible.