UK, Feb. 12, 2006
Ramesh Verma
NRI (non-resident Indian), Dentist Shabbir Merchant, 40, jailed for 18
months for £300,000 fraud to NHS by claiming
for work he hadn't done. NHS Counter Fraud Team added: "Merchant invented
expensive treatments for nearly 200 patients, which the NHS paid for".
NHS fraud investigators realised each payment Merchant was claiming was
just below the limit which required formal authorisation.When he was asked
for records for the patients from his Swiss Cottage practice Merchant claimed
he had been burgled the day before and three years worth of paperwork had
been stolen
Shabbir admitted 20 specimen counts of dishonestly obtaining a money transfer
by deception between September 1998 and August 2003. Another 40 counts were
left to lie on the file. A legal source said after the hearing: "The
NHS Dental Board said he was making claims for a sum that came just inside
the limit that needed pre-authorisation.
"He made lots of claims over a short period so drew their attention
and they requested his patient cards. We do not accept any of the work was
genuine. The £200,000 excludes the value of the genuine work."The
20 charges of obtaining money transfers by deception charges total £197,997.78.
Assets of £1 million have been frozen including a Ferrari and six
properties in London and Manchester.
Judge Neil Stewart said it was a "sad fact" that "highly
respected and respectable professional men in positions of trust" who
had given in to temptation were coming before the court all too frequently.
