- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
A fraudster has been given nearly 10 years extra jail time for failing to pay back £4 million, it was reported on Tuesday (8).
Imtiaz Khoda, 45, was part of a criminal gang that swindled £1.2m from the NHS in Lincolnshire.
Birmingham court heard that Khoda and his gang members forged letters, emails and faxes to masquerade as a legitimate firm and divert funds to themselves.
He was initially jailed for four years and six months in June 2017 after he admitted conspiracy to launder money.
Investigators found that Khoda conned a Lincolnshire health trust during the building of a mental health unit at Lincoln St George’s Hospital on Long Leys Road.
Dr John Brewin, chief executive of the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said at the time that the loss was of “great concern.”
“We can confirm that Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was defrauded to a total of £1.28m, as part of our development of Discovery House, a mental health rehabilitation unit on the St George’s site in Lincoln built in 2011,” he said.
Along with 12 other offenders, Khoda also defrauded several other public bodies across the UK out of £12 million.
He received £134,000 as profit for his part in the fraud, investigators said.
Following his conviction, Khoda was ordered to pay back £8,761,222.68 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He has since paid back just a fraction of what he owes.
Neil Hollingsworth, financial investigator in Lincolnshire Police’s economic crime unit, said: “We will continue to ensure the fraudsters convicted of this or any fraud do not benefit from their criminal activity.
“Fraud investigations are inherently long and complex to investigate and the Proceeds of Crime Act allows any benefit obtained from a criminal lifestyle to be recovered.”
The investigation resulted in over 50 years of prison sentences in total.
