A councillor accused of setting up a fake heritage society to scam funds tried to blame the missing money on a dead colleague, a court heard.Jason Zadrozny, 46, an independent councillor in Nottinghamshire, named himself chairman of the Ashfield Heritage Society (AHS) after setting it up before applying for grants for 'good causes', which he then withdrew in cash.Prosecutors say Zadrozny, who earned £50,000 a year from his various councillor roles but was living beyond his means and often in debt, set up the society 'which never existed and never did anything' because he needed 'quite a bit of money, in a hurry'.Some of the cash was used to buy a house with two fellow councillors, it is alleged.Zadrozny, who is also leader of Ashfield District Council, is on trial accused of 12 counts of fraud and four counts of tax evasion relating to four rental properties, which he denies.He claims to have given the cash to Tony Brewer, a well-respected local figure and former Ashfield council chairman, who died from Covid in 2020 aged 74, to carry out repair and maintenance of war memorials in the area. On Tuesday, jurors at Northampton Crown Court were read transcripts of police interviews in which Zadrozny claimed that after taking the money out of the bank by writing a 'cheque for cash' he handed it straight to Mr Brewer who 'went off' and did what he wanted with it.He said he understood the money was spent on repairing war memorials but said there were no records kept of precisely where the money went. Councillor Jason Zadrozny, the leader of Ashfield District Council, pictured arriving at Northampton Crown Court last week. He denies 12 counts of fraud and four counts of income tax evasionZadrozny, who was first elected in 2007, told officers he was 'facilitating a good person trying to do something good ...helping them try to do something nice'.He said Mr Brewer was 'one of the nicest people' adding: 'I am quite frankly annoyed about this - he is not here to defend himself.'The interview ended when officers pointed out the two people he had named to corroborate his story were both dead. He was asked by one of the officers: 'Is there anyone you can name we can go and speak to who might be able to clear up these issues?To which Zadrozny replied: 'I don't know.'Northampton Crown Court has heard Zadrozny opened a bank account in the name of Ashfield Heritage Society (AHS) in February 2018.He then applied for funding from the Councillors' Divisional Fund, a £5,000 pot made available to every representative by the county council to support local organisations.Three days after setting up the account, he applied for £7,500 of funding for the group, including £3,500 from his own allocation, jurors were told.The court heard the address on the application form was given as 213 Forest Road, which does not exist.AHS was said to be 'a new society to support heritage projects in Ashfield', and the application detailed £500 for a new laptop and £7,000 to clean and repair war memorials to commemorate the end of the First World War.Later, in August 2018, in the following financial year, Zadrozny asked for £1,600 funding 'towards the cost of commemorative events, badges, poppies and road decorations'.That money was also then withdrawn, also in cash, and again, there are no records of what it was spent on.An investigation was launched by the council and later police after a prospective election candidate Catherine Mason came across the heritage society and looked at its activities.Zadrozny was then said to have drafted a note, later recovered from his phone, claiming Mr Brewer had been involved in 'a number of projects including planting around war memorials, cleaning and maintenance work'.Zadrozny wrote: 'We hope that the way in which the comments have been made about these projects does not tarnish genuine and heartfelt work done by someone who is not here to defend himself,'Prosecutor James Varley said it was 'clearly a first stab at blaming Tony Brewer and distancing himself from AHS'. He said Zadrozny omitted to mention his role in setting it up, banking the cash or withdrawing it.Zadrozny then contacted the council to say he had made a mistake and that AHS no longer existed, and he wanted to recall the application he had made in February.Mr Brewer's partner told the court she was 'upset' with Zadrozny for trying to 'blame' him.The court heard evidence on Thursday from several people who had known Mr Brewer – including family members – and none said they had ever heard him speak of AHS or any projects connected to it.One of those questioned was Patricia Percival, the partner of Mr Brewer for more than 30 years, who said that to say she was upset with Mr Zadrozny would be an 'understatement'.Zadrozny is also accused of taking cash from a second group he set up called the Classic Cinema Club for people who enjoyed the 'Carry On' films. It was awarded £1,200 through the Councillors Divisional Fund.Prosecutors say part of the money was used to buy a house with friends on Forest Road – the same road as the false address given.The court heard financial records show he had previously transferred £12,000 to his friend Thomas Hollis for the house. The property was later bought for more than £70,000 by another friend, Helen Smith.When the house was sold in September 2021, for £168,000, Ms Smith paid Hollis £97,000 and more than £68,000 was 'gifted' to Zadrozny.Mr Varley said that in August 2018, the defendant asked for a further £1,600 for AHS for 'funding towards the cost of commemorative events, badges, poppies and road decorations'.The money was again withdrawn in cash and within four minutes, £1,580 had been deposited in his personal account.Mr Hollis and Ms Smith are not part of these proceedings. The court heard the council grant applications were only 'relatively lightly checked' and 'everyone accepted it was a system based on trust' because the £5,000 funds were 'a drop in the ocean' of the council's £1billion budget.The trial continues.