The court found that Khoda had willfully refused to engage
NHS fraudster Imtiaz Khoda, aged 45, from Dubai, has been jailed for nearly 10 more years after paying back just a fraction of the £4 million he owed.
He was part of a criminal gang that stole £1.2 million from the NHS in Lincolnshire.
Khoda had been initially jailed for four-and-a-half years in June 2017 after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money at Leicester Crown Court in October 2016.
He was a member of a sophisticated criminal group that had scammed a number of public bodies around the UK. This included the NHS, councils and housing associations.
The Sleaford-based Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) raised the alarm in 2011 when a £1.28 million payment to a building firm towards a new mental health rehabilitation centre went missing.
Lincolnshire Police launched Operation Tarlac. They soon discovered 20 offences which were linked and total losses of £12.6 million suffered by several parties as part of an international scam.
After his conviction, Khoda was ordered to pay back £8.76 million under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He was given three months to pay the available amount of £4,024,809.83. Khoda was told he would be sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison if he failed to do so.
On August 19, 2019, Khoda applied to have his time to pay the confiscation order extended.
However, the application was rejected on the basis he had not made all reasonable efforts to pay the order.
At Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on September 5, 2019, the confiscation order was sought to be enforced.
It was found that only £212,217 had been paid towards the order. The court found that Khoda had willfully refused to engage in the process.
The NHS fraudster was sentenced to an additional nine years and eight months taking into account the sum which had already been paid.
Despite the sentence, the outstanding balance is still owed and interest will continue to build up.
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 12-person crime group created fake emails, letters and faxes in order to pose as an actual firm and divert payments to themselves.
Lincolnshire Live reported that the investigation led to more than 50 years of prison sentences in total.
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