The former Sheriff of Nottingham has denied allegations of wrongdoing after a report found he abused his position to secure a discount on car repairs, claim gig tickets and receive free hospitality.

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

Khan, who is the brother of council leader Neghat Khan, became a councillor in 2019 and held the civic role as sheriff until May.

The councillor has urged the authority's Standards and Governance Committee to find him not guilty of breaching the code of conduct, or to give him "no sanction beyond a recommendation for training".

The role of the committee is to determine whether the council's code of conduct has been breached and to determine any sanctions where a breach is found.

The committee met on Thursday to discuss the case, but the meeting was abandoned after Khan's lawyers raised concerns about a councillor on the panel.

In a 16-page legal submission to the cross-party committee, Khan denied the breaches found by the external investigation.

His lawyers said a delay in the investigation findings and "the leaking of information to the press" had caused [Khan] "significant ongoing emotional distress and embarrassment".

The investigation report, by legal firm Bevan Brittan, found Khan used his position as the sheriff in relation to repairs to his car.

Initially he was quoted £30,000, but the report said after he contacted the company in his capacity as sheriff, it was agreed the Land Rover would be repaired for £7,500.

In his submission, Khan's lawyers said he was told at the time that his car was out of warranty, but he felt they "ought to repair his car" in part because he had been a "loyal customer" for several years.

He was later told, following "protracted correspondence with the dealership" and a complaint, that the discount was a "goodwill gesture".

Khan's lawyers added Land Rover confirmed it dealt with issues based on the vehicle itself and had Khan's council email address on file.

They also said Khan used his council email address because it was the "account he checked most regularly and did not regard it as meaningfully different from his personal account".

The external investigation also found Khan requested and accepted free tickets for three events at the Motorpoint Arena in the city, two of which marked breaches of the code and "amounted to a real or substantive personal gain".

Khan went to see Canadian singer Tate McRae, the stage version of the children's cartoon Paw Patrol, and the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team.

Khan did not declare the visits within 28 days, but declared them later in 2025.

His lawyers said Khan attended the events as a councillor, in response to "encouragement" by the council-owned company which operates the arena, to "better understand how [it] operates, to see how different audiences used it, and to introduce new guests to it".

They added Khan had "no personal interest" in attending the events and that other councillors were offered complimentary tickets.

The report by Bevan Brittan also said Khan failed to declare his attendance at the opening of The Ivy restaurant in Nottingham in 2025.

He emailed the venue asking if it would like him to attend "in my capacity as the Sheriff of Nottingham" and later informed the council he had been invited to the opening, the report said.

Councillors are required to declare any gifts or hospitality with an estimated value of £25 or more.

His lawyers said Khan attended this opening in his "civic capacity, promoted the city and the Council House, and did not receive hospitality valued at £25 or more".

Khan also accepted complimentary visits to the Nottingham racecourse hospitality suite with guests, but did not declare these visits.

His lawyers said Khan was the primary representative on the Nottingham Racecourse Committee and a director for the company since 2021.

They added Khan did not declare visits because he saw them as part of his committee member role and "was not aware that previous councillors on the committee had done so".

In his submissions, Khan's lawyers said he invited the Standards and Governance Committee to "decline to adopt the findings in the report and to find that no breaches of the code have been established".

They added if a breach was found, that the committee took "no further steps, beyond recommendations for further training and internal alternatively, to find that any breach was technical in nature".

A spokesperson for Nottingham City Council said the hearing would be rescheduled.

Council leader Neghat Khan was previously contacted for comment but the BBC was told she was unable to take part in interviews while council procedures were ongoing.

Additional reporting by Anna Whittaker

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