Ike Agukwe Johnson, 42, of Kingsland Road, Plaistow has been sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court to 12 months’ imprisonment after being investigated by the NHS Counter Fraud Service.
Johnson cost the Trust GB pound 179,142.32 in salary payments, bank work earnings and other costs.
The Trust first employed him as a care worker at the Stacey Street Nursing Home in Islington after he tendered a false Home Office ‘No Time Limit’ stamp in his Nigerian passport in 2003.
This document appeared to demonstrate entitlement to work, whereas Johnson had no such entitlement. He had no settled status, and is believed to have arrived illegally via France from Nigeria.
Johnson repeated the deception in 2008, which helped secure him promotion at the same nursing home.
He was arrested on 16 November this year at his workplace, and later interviewed under caution by NHS Counter Fraud Service officers.
Johnson pleaded guilty to three offences: obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception (contrary to Section 16 (1) of the Theft Act 1968) the use of a false instrument (contrary to Section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981) and also possession of identity documents, contrary to Section 25 (1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006.
Kevin Cane, London operational fraud manager at the NHS Counter Fraud Service, said: “This goes to show that fraudsters’ crimes will eventually catch up with them. We will follow up any suspicion of fraud against the NHS and investigate wherever appropriate, pressing for prosecution and the strongest sanctions against offenders. This sort of outcome deters others from doing the same.”
London mental health nurse jailed for GB pound 65,000 NHS fraud
A woman who fraudulently obtained bursaries, training and employment from the NHS using a false birth certificate has been jailed for nine months at Basildon Crown Court.
32-year-old Marion Adewumni of Fanns Rise, Purfleet in Essex, who was convicted after an investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service, worked as a mental health nurse for the South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
Adewumni pleaded guilty to three offences: false accounting (relating to her bursary application form), obtaining money transfers (which accounted for her total bursary payments of GB pound 48,240.71) and using a false instrument by presenting a false birth certificate to apply for her student bursary.
In August 2005, Adewumni claimed an NHS Student Bursary to fund her living expenses while studying for a diploma in Mental Health Nursing at London South Bank University. At this time, she did not have the required settled status under the Immigration Act 1971.
In her application, she falsely declared she was British, producing a false UK birth certificate. As a result, she was paid a total of GB pound 48,240.71 via monthly instalments during the academic years between September 2005 to February 2009.
During this time, payments included childcare costs and covered maternity leave from July 2007 until March 2008. Her tuition fees for student nurses were also funded by the NHS. and amounted to GB pound 17,328.
Kevin Cane commented: “Our investigations show that Ms Adewumni has clearly benefited from her dishonesty. The NHS has spent a considerable amount of time and money on her training and may now have to fund a replacement.”
GB pound 130,000 NHS fraud catches up with Salami
A woman who fraudulently obtained education, bursaries, training and employment from the NHS using a false UK birth certificate has been sentenced to a total of nine months’ imprisonment at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Abiodun Salami (35) of Armstead Walk in Dagenham, who was convicted after an investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service, worked as a mental health nurse for the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.
Having married in March 2002, Salami applied for leave to remain in the UK on 18 July 2003 as the partner of a European Economic Area (EEA) national. It was not until March 2007 that she was granted Discretionary Leave to Remain in the UK (until 1 March 2010), on the basis that she was the spouse of a settled person with leave to remain.
Back in March 2003, Salami started a Mental Health Nursing Diploma at Middlesex University at a time when she did not have the required settled status. In her application, in December 2001, she falsely declared that she did not require a student visa and, during the enrolment process, produced a false British birth certificate.
In February 2003, Salami claimed an NHS Student Bursary to fund her living expenses and childcare costs while studying. She stated that she was British, single, and with one dependent child on her application, which she supported with a photocopied British birth certificate in the name of Abiodun Christana Salami.
As a result, she was paid a total bursary of GB pound 35,919.43 via monthly payments during the academic years between February 2003 and January 2006.
From August 2003 until her dismissal in October 2009, Salami was employed by Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust in nursing positions. For her work carried out between August 2003 and October 2009 she was paid wages totalling GB pound 94,306.63 (gross).
The UK Border Agency confirmed she was an overseas national without leave to remain in the UK at the times she applied to Middlesex University, NHS Student Bursaries and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.
Birth certificate turned out to be false
The London Borough of Newham confirmed her birth certificate was false, as they had no record of Salami’s birth in their registers.
The General Register Office confirmed the document came from a batch of 2,000 certificates that were dispatched to the London Borough of Waltham Forest in June 1997, but never arrived.
Salami was arrested in February this year by police officers attached to Operation Swale (a UK Border Agency and Metropolitan Police initiative). She was charged with two offences of using a false instrument, contrary to Section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, and two offences of obtaining a money transfer by deception, contrary to Section 15A of the Theft Act 1968.
Salami changed her plea to guilty on all counts on 24 September. She received nine months’ immediate custodial sentence for each pair of offences, to be served concurrently.
Speaking about the case, Kevin Cane said: “Eligible candidates for the education, bursaries and employment that Salami dishonestly obtained may have lost out. She eventually gained the status she wanted, but that doesn’t mean her crimes can be ignored. We hope this outcome will deter others thinking of doing the same as Salami.”
