Man jailed after hospital fraud

Charles Elad, 46, along with four health care assistants and a nurse he had persuaded to defraud the NHS, were all been sentenced for conspiracy to defraud.

Elad was working as a recruitment officer for ID Medical at the time of the offences.

Each of the five workers was convicted of separate fraud conspiracies with Elad.

His wife, Tanyi Elad, was convicted of a money laundering offence.

The total loss to the NHS was £72,991.11, and various NHS hospitals in England were targeted, including Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Scunthorpe General, Royal Blackburn, and Darlington.

Elad enlisted George Kiberu, Violet Nhende, Abosede Amusan, Ernest Anonyo and Rilindis Bessem to submit large numbers of fraudulent timesheets to the recruitment agency, who were unaware of the fraudulent activity taking place.

The agency workers were subsequently paid for the unworked shift. The agency then unknowingly invoiced the various trusts for the shifts.

Once an agency worker had been paid for the ghost ‘shifts’, Charles Elad would then request they make a payment to him, using his wife Tanyi Esekang Elad’s bank account to hide the transactions.

The initial investigation started at the local level. As they realised the problem extended to other areas, the local counter fraud specialist (LCFS) for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, referred the case up to the national body.

NHSCFA investigators were able to prove in court both that Charles Elad had conspired with the other defendants, and how he had been the orchestrator of their activity.

The trial began on April 23. Nhende, Kiberu and Anonyo pleaded guilty to their charges, with the remaining defendants entering not guilty pleas and going to trial.

Elad received three years’ imprisonment. He had denied five counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and one count of fraud.

He was convicted of four counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of fraud, with the remaining conspiracy count left to lie on file.

Abosede Amusan, 38, and Rilindis Bessem, 39, received 16 month and six month prison sentences respectively. They each denied one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation but were convicted by the jury.

Violet Nhende, 49, George Kiberu, 50, and Ernest Anonyo, 40, received prison sentences (all suspended for two years) - of eight months, 15 months and eight months respectively.

They each admitted one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Tanyi Esekang Elad, 38, denied converting criminal property but was convicted by the jury. She received a four month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Richard Rippin, Head of Operations at the NHSCFA, said: "The NHSCFA is delighted with the outcome of this investigation. Although this crime was orchestrated by Charles Elad, all seven conspired to deliberately defraud multiple NHS organisations. They had been employed to care for NHS patients, but instead took resources away from patient care for their own personal gain.

"The result demonstrates the value of local and national NHS bodies working in partnership to tackle fraud. It sends a message to anyone under the mistaken impression that NHS funds are an easy target for fraud, that they will be caught."

The sentencing judge issued a commendation to both the national and local NHS investigators involved.

NHSCFA action will now continue under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the money lost to the NHS.