Ex-Sheriff of Nottingham cleared of abusing position

The former Sheriff of Nottingham has been cleared of abusing his position to secure a discount on car repairs and free hospitality after a committee concluded a code of conduct breach was "technical".

Nottingham City Council Labour councillor Zafran Khan was found by an external investigation to have breached the code of conduct, following a complaint in 2025.

That report alleged there had been eight breaches of the code by Khan, who held the civic role as sheriff until May this year.

But on Thursday, the council's Standards and Governance Committee found Khan only committed one "technical breach" of the code by failing to declare his attendance at a concert arena within a 28-day period.

The complaint about Khan was first received on 18 September 2025. The Standards and Governance Committee then met on 15 October to discuss the case in a meeting which reconvened on Thursday.

The independent investigation, carried out by legal firm Bevan Brittan, found the allegations covered three areas - gifts and hospitality, use of position and disrepute.

Khan had denied all of the allegations and maintained his position was that he abided by the rules, as he genuinely understood them to be.

The ceremonial role of the city's sheriff is to promote Nottingham, encourage residents to take advantage of activities in the city and to welcome tourists to the city.

Representing Khan, Mannat Malhi told the committee on Thursday that much of his term as the Sheriff of Nottingham was served "in the shadow of this complaint" and described it as "one of the lowest periods of his life", as Khan wiped his eyes.

Khan had been accused of failing to declare hospitality of at least £25 at the opening of The Ivy restaurant in Nottingham, failing to declare free visits to the Nottingham Racecourse hospitality suites, accepting free tickets for two events at the Motorpoint Arena and failing to declare those visits.

He was also accused of using his position to obtain the free gig tickets, seeking to use his position to "advantage himself" in relation to repairs to his Land Rover and disrepute in relation to these two things.

Khan said he attended The Ivy opening in his civic capacity as sheriff and did not receive hospitality valued at £25 or more.

He also said he had no personal interest in the events he attended at the Motorpoint Arena, which is owned by the council, and ony went to gain an understanding of different entertainment at the arena.

The meeting heard the chief executive of the arena had supported councillors being offered complimentary tickets to help to introduce new guests to it.

Khan did not declare the visits but was later advised to and did so, but only after the required 28-day period. It is on this basis that a breach was found by the committee.

The committee heard Khan had been the director of Nottingham Racecourse -which is owned by the council and leased to Jockey Club Racecourses - since 2021.

He said his visits to the racecourse were not declared because he understood it was part of his role as a member of the committee to attend, introduce new people to the venue and that other councillors on the committee had not registered their attendance.

In relation to repairs to his Land Rover, Khan denied he sought to use his position to obtain any discounts and had disputed the original cost of repairs to his car based on the fact that he was a longstanding customer and that the car, which was relatively new, had numerous problems, the committee heard.

Originally he was quoted £30,000, but after he contacted the company in his capacity as sheriff, it was agreed that the Land Rover would be repaired for £7,500, meaning Khan saved £22,500.

When asked why he used his council email address to communicate with Jaguar Land Rover, Khan said because "that was the email he had on file for me". When asked how the company got that email address, Khan said he gave it to them.

Khan - who became a councillor in 2019 - told the committee when he took on the role of sheriff, he did so to "promote the city" but said "no support was given".

He cried as he told the committee: "This has been devastating. I cant even put into words.

"I came into public office to promote the city. My father has been in public office for decades, after seeing my father I wanted to do it.

"This whole thing has been going on for 14 months. Nobody has told me what's going on, there's been delays."

The committee recommended that appropriate training was provided to Khan in respect of the technical breach.

It also recommended that mandatory training should be provided to all councillors, new and existing, around guidance on gifts and hospitality, to include the code of conduct in councillor welcome packs, that guidance be issued on estimating the value of gifts and that best practice guidance is issued regarding the use of council emails.

Kirsty Jones, a Nottingham People's Alliance councillor, who sits on the Standards and Governance Committee, said she did not agree with the conclusion.

In a statement, the city council said: "The council's cross-party Standards and Governance Committee met today to consider a complaint made against Councillor Zafran Khan and the outcome of an independent investigation in relation to this.

"After considering the investigator's report, the committee decided that there had been no breaches of the council's code of conduct by Councillor Khan in relation to three of the issues raised and one technical breach regarding a fourth issue which involved failure to declare hospitality in relation to attendance at events at the Motorpoint Arena within the required 28 days.

"The committee recommended that appropriate additional training should be provided by the council to Councillor Khan on declaring hospitality and that further appropriate training and guidance be provided to all councillors on the code of conduct."

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