Global News Post Fastest Global News Portal
Related Articles
&w=310&resize=310,165&ssl=1 "Cannot Digest That Our Children…: DK Shivakumar Breaks Down While Speaking To Media After Bengaluru Stampede")
&w=310&resize=310,165&ssl=1 "Bengaluru Stampede: Karnataka High Court Takes Suo-Motu Cognizance, Orders Status Report, Hearing On June 10")
SpindriftFour males had been jailed over a £6m NHS contract fraud described as “outrageous” through investigators.
Gavin Brown and Adam Sharoudi used their connections with senior well being provider staff Gavin Cox and Alan Hush to procure profitable telecoms contracts between 2010 and 2017.
An investigation into Oricom Ltd, established through Brown and Sharoudi, discovered Hush and Cox gave the company “commercially sensitive information” in go back for £88,000 value of money, presents and vacations.
Oricom administrators Brown, 48, and Sharoudi, 41, had been jailed for seven and 8 years respectively, whilst Hush, 68, and Cox, 60, had been jailed for 8 and 6 years.
Sentencing, Lord Arthurson stated each and every of the lads had been “self-serving, arrogant and mendacious”, including that they had “subverted public trust in NHS management”.
The workforce’s crimes had been most effective exposed after the robbery of 2 NHS-issued cellphones, which resulted in 1000’s of textual content messages and emails being found out on more than one laptops, computer systems and mobiles.
A 16-week trial on the High Court in Glasgow heard Oricom did “acquire, use and possess” a complete of £5,719,244 of “criminal property” paid for through NHS Lothian, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in addition to NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
One unmarried contract was once value £3.1m, the trial was once advised.
Oricom’s places of work had been raided through investigators from NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services in 2015 following considerations into how the offers had been secured.
Brown based Oricom in a shed in Irvine, Ayrshire in 2008 and Sharoudi later joined as a director.
Sharoudi changed into buddies with Hush, who was once telecommunications supervisor at NHS Lothian after which NHS Scotland video conferencing supervisor.
A textual content alternate between Sahroudi and Hush, who was once described all over the trial as “the big cheese in the NHS telecoms department, showed how the NHS manager wanted to “earn some fee”.
Hush claimed that had been a joke and any money he received had come from his late father.
But the court found he “ferreted about” in a “deception” to obtain false “dodgy” quotes to help the firm get the lucrative business.
In return he was handed Eurostar train tickets, stays at the Troy and Re Hotels in London, a laptop, an iPad, meals, and concert tickets to see Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright and Patti Smith for his part in helping Oricom secure the contracts.
GoogleCox, of Cathcart, Glasgow was head of IT and infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire.
He denied giving Oricom the “heads up” with information to give them a “business benefit” to secure business.
It was suggested it was “now not a degree enjoying box” for other bidders.
Brown had been a guest at Cox’s surprise 50th birthday party.
His “rewards” were said to include hospitality at the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, a night at the Loch Green Hotel in Troon and a meal at Elliots in Prestwick.
Jurors heard he also got thousands of pounds worth of Barrhead Travel holiday vouchers which allowed him to go on trips to New York and Lanzarote.
Cox said he believed they were gifts to his wife – a newspaper advertising manager – from Brown’s partner who she had become friends with.
He also denied ever getting a series of cash handouts from Oricom.
He used some of the money he was given to pay for an “extension and landscaping” at a property in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, which he claimed had been paid for using an inheritance from his father.
‘Taken benefit’
In total, Hush was given £18,231 of cash bungs and gifts, while Cox was handed more than £70,000.
Brown also knew another NHS Lanarkshire telecoms official who has since died.
Among the charges was one that Oricom in effect bribed him to secure work including a near £700,000 deal.
The company is still trading.
Gordon Young, head of NHS Scotland counter-fraud services, described their actions as “outrageous”.
He stated: “They had been ready of believe throughout the NHS and they’ve manipulated the procurement procedure for their very own get advantages.
“We hear every single day from politicians and from people that work in the service about how hard folk are working to try and keep things going.
“The overwhelming majority of NHS employees are truthful hardworking individuals who have most effective were given their sufferers and their products and services highest passion at center, however those folks have taken good thing about the gadget for their very own get advantages.”
‘Angry and anxious’
Unison Scotland’s head of health, Matt McLaughlin, said the case was an indictment of the “loss of assets” put into countering fraud within the health service.
He said: “Politicians for years had been speaking about chopping backroom products and services, chopping backroom body of workers to make efficiencies.
“I think the use of private money and private companies in the NHS and in the wider public sector present opportunities for people to behave in this way.
“And that is why we’d like sturdy procurement techniques. I believe it is completely proper for the general public to be indignant and anxious.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said steps had been taken to “enhance oversight and duty” across NHS Boards
They added: “We have reviewed procurement practices and transferring towards a unmarried nationwide framework for trade behavior to enhance fraud prevention and ship higher duty, as really useful within the Cumberlege Review.
“We will ensure that Scotland’s NHS continues to uphold the highest standards of public service and transparency, and that the lessons of this case are learned from.”
