TWO men from Redditch have been sentenced for being part of a fraud gang which stole £12.6m from hospitals and councils across the UK.
Mohammed Nadeem, 33, from Redditch, was given five years, seven months in prison for conspiracy to money launder, and Directors Disqualification for six years.
Abdul Ghaffar, 68, of Lineholt Close was given 22 weeks imprisonment suspended for 15 months and an electronically tagged curfew for two months for entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.
Ten conspirators in total were given sentences at Leicester Crown Court of up to 10 years in prison.
Since the end of 2011 Lincolnshire Police have been investigating a series of divert frauds (also known as mandate frauds) against public bodies including a number of NHS Trusts.
More than £12m was subsequently laundered, much of it overseas. Several UK police forces and agencies in Dubai, Poland and other countries worked closely to crack the international organised crime group.
Sue Frith, CEO (Interim), NHS Counter Fraud Authority and Managing Director, NHS Protect, said: ” We applaud the work done by Lincolnshire Police to bring these criminals to justice, and have been working together closely on this investigation.
“Our outstanding Forensic Computing Unit and intelligence, fraud investigation and financial investigation specialists have played key roles.
“We urge anyone who suspects fraud against the NHS to report it to our Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line 0800 028 4060. This can be done anonymously.”
The NHS Trusts targeted include :
- Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which lost £1.28m, laundered through eight separate bank accounts.
- Royal Free Hampstead Hospital, which paid out £1.43m to the fraudsters, but the cash was returned.
- North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was defrauded of £896,700, with £536,966 recovered.
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, which ignored the fraudulent request.
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were targeted but did not respond.
- Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust paid £261,260. All the money was lost.
- Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust also ignored the bogus email they received.
