Kenton man fined more than £200,000

2:35pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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A KENTON man faces financial ruin after being ordered to pay more than £200,000 to a health authority.

Girish Pandya, of Kenton Lane, was ordered to pay £213,448 in damages to the London Strategic Health Authority (LSHA), as well at least £190,000 in legal costs and £156,000 in interest after the High Court hearing yesterday.

In the civil hearing, judge Sir Andrew Park ruled Mr Pandya was involved in frauds which involved seven London chemists shops, claiming thousands from the NHS through forged prescriptions between 1998 and 2001.

He said at least 3,773 forged forms were taken from 40 doctors' surgeries in London and the total cost to the NHS was calculated at £429,249.

In the only fraud detailed by the judge, Sir Andrew said Mr Pandya would receive regular supplies of prescription drugs in return for his role in the scam.

The court heard that Mr Pandya had access to doctors' surgeries and visited the establishments from which the forms used in the fraud were stolen.

Sir Andrew said there was "considerable force" in the suggestion that he stole the forms himself, as he often had unsupervised access to store rooms and offered to fit security cameras free of charge at a number of surgeries at weekends.

However, he said the evidence was entirely circumstantial, but that it did not matter who he obtained them from as "he must have known that the forms had been obtained improperly and ulawfully, and were intended to be used dishonestly".

Sir Andrew also said Mr Pandya felt aggrieved as he was the only one the LHSA had pursued, despite others being involved in the plot. But, he added, there was a "Mr Big" out there who had not been identified.

Companies and individuals who ran seven pharmacies involved have already settled with the LHSA out of court.