Doctor and wife jailed for fraud

A doctor was on Tuesday sentenced to 32 months in prison for fraud that also involved his wife, who was sentenced to two years in jail.

The Nicosia District Court found a neurosurgeon and his wife guilty of telling patients to buy a cerebral shunt, a valve to drain fluid from the brain, from the woman’s company, instead of telling them it was free under the national health scheme (Gesy).

The family of the patient was told to pay out €1,500 extra ahead of their relative’s surgery.

However, the court said in its ruling that the valve neither came nor was seen by anybody in the hospital.

The court added that nothing was told to the hospital, and the valve the family bought was not even used in the surgery.

The court said the offences committed are very serious.

The defendant was a doctor at the Nicosia general hospital and by his actions he abused the role and the trust shown in him by the patient and her relatives.

The court imposed on the accused, concurrent sentences of several months’ imprisonment, the longest being 32 months for the offence of abuse of power. At the same time, it imposed 28 months for securing goods fraudulently and 18 for money laundering.

The doctor’s wife was sentenced to several months’ imprisonment on three counts, the longest being 24 months.

The woman’s prison sentence was suspended for three years due to the implications it would have on the couple’s daughter, if both parents were in jail.

The court also took into consideration the return of the money to the family, after the fact.

The case came to light in May 2016 following a complaint from a patient who was to undergo surgery to place a valve in her brain.

The neurosurgeon persuaded his patient and her relatives to pay €1,500 to buy a particular magnetic brain valve from his wife’s company, presenting the valve as better than the one supplied by the hospital free of charge.