ONE of East Lancashire’s most prominent citizens has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a series of sexual assaults.

Junaid Qureshi MBE, 60, from Blackburn, was detained by police officers when he arrived back at Manchester Airport from Pakistan.

He was last night quizzed by detectives after a 25-year-old woman claimed she had been the subject of a number of ‘serious sex attacks’ over several months.

Mr Qureshi was then released on bail pending further police inquiries.

Mr Qureshi is the chief executive officer of Blackburn-based Ethnic Minority Development Association (EMDA), an umbrella organisation which has an affiliation to 78 groups and community organisations.

He was awarded the MBE for his community relations work in the Queen’s 1999 New Year Honours.

Mr Qureshi is a board member at Prospect Homes, the group which administrates Twin Valley Homes and Housing Pendle, as well as a governor at Blackburn College and board member of the University of Central Lancashire.

A police spokesman said: “Blackburn police arrested a 60-year-old man at Manchester Airport on Wednesday night on suspicion of sexual assaults against a 25-year-old woman.

"The offences are alleged to have occurred in Blackburn over a period of months since May 2008.”

A statement from EMDA said Mr Qureshi had been suspended on full pay.

It read: “Members of the executive committee have recently become aware of certain allegations of impropriety.

"We take such matters very seriously.

"However, we also note that all people are innocent until proven guilty."

As CEO of EMDA, Mr Qureshi is consulted by Blackburn Council’s Local Strategic Partnership, but has no other roles with the council Both Blackburn College and Prospect Homes said they would be reviewing Mr Qureshi’s position.

College Principal Ian Clinton said: “Mr Qureshi is a college governor and has been for many years.

"We don’t have any governors’ meetings scheduled for the next two or three weeks, but I will be meeting the chairman of the board on Monday.

“Of course, we have to assume he is innocent until proven guilty, but the normal process for staff, governors and students in this kind of situation is that suspension would be considered, on the basis of allowing the individual to deal with their personal matters.”

Phil Richards, group chief executive of Prospect Homes, said: “I will need to speak to the chairman and decide what action, if any, will be taken, in line with the members’ code of conduct.

"He has been on our board since our inception two years ago, and was a member of the shadow board before that.”

Last month, Mr Qureshi stepped down as a non-executive director of NHS Blackburn with Darwen, the borough’s primary care trust, half-way through his four-year term on its board, citing personal reasons.

He was also a member of the board on the old East Lancashire Health Authority, which covered the entire of the region, before it was disbanded in 2000 to make way for new health structures.

Mr Qureshi sat as a non-executive director at the Lancashire and Cumbria Strategic Health Authority, but is not connected with NHS North West, which replaced it in 2002.