A Bradford magistrate, who was honoured with an OBE a year ago, has appeared in Court charged with fraud and theft.

Salima Hafejee, 43, was charged after a lengthy police investigation into alleged financial irregularities at organisations she was involved with.

Hafejee, of Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton, made her first appearance at court today and indicated that she would be pleading not guilty to the three charges.

During the ten-minute hearing, a packed Wakefield Magistrates’ Court heard that the theft charge involved a sum of £1,400, while one of the two fraud charges involved a local authority grant made to allow improvements to be carried out at a charity’s premises.

Hafejee was represented by barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain.

Prosecutor Richard Ogden was asked if he thought the case should be tried at Crown Court or Magistrates’ Court.

He stressed that Hafejee’s standing in the community and the fact a charity was involved meant it would be inappropriate to hold the case at a Magistrates’ Court, even though the amount of money involved was below £5,000.

District Judge Marie Mallon agreed that the case should be dealt with at Crown Court.

Hafejee was formerly director of the Bradford Youth Development Partnership (BYDP) which works with youth groups across the district. She left BYDP in August last year.

She was appointed to the national Youth Justice Board, a body which oversees local Youth Offending Teams, in March, 2007, but resigned at the end of February this year due to other commitments.

In last year’s New Year Honours List, Hafejee was made an OBE for her services to community relations in West Yorkshire.

She was then working as an independent consultant supporting voluntary and statutory youth services.

Two weeks ago, a spokesman for Bradford Magistrates’ Court said she had been a magistrate since 2000 but was on “leave of absence”.

Hafejee was bailed to appear at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court on February 16, when the case is due to be committed to Crown Court.