$800K FRAUD

AN ex-practice manager stole nearly $800,000 from her Gold Coast employer by using her bank account details to accept health fund rebates meant for her boss. The Southport District Court was told the Kingscliff woman stole it in a seven-year period.

A FORMER practice manager stole nearly $800,000 from her Gold Coast employer by using her bank account details to accept health fund rebates meant for her boss.

The Southport District Court was told the Kingscliff woman stole the money over a seven-year period and was only caught after her employer, Dr Ibrahim Abdool, retired and new staff discovered the scheme.

Zoe Sandra Mylius, 60, pleaded guilty to fraud, dishonestly cause detriment by employee value of at least $100,000, and fraud, dishonestly cause detriment by employee value of at least $30,000.

The court was told Mylius was the business manager for Dr Abdool’s practice at John Flynn Medical Centre for 17 years and was responsible for the financial management of the business.

Crown prosecutor Kathleen Christopherson said Dr Abdool offered his private patients a no-gap service and was paid by their private health insurer.

Ms Christopherson said in August 2013 Mylius filled out a HCF remittance form and changed the bank account details from Dr Abdool to her own.

“From that point in time these remittances have gone into her bank account and that’s gone on from August 26, 2013 to April 17, 2020,” Ms Christopherson said.

“She tells the complainant from memory she just didn’t know what to do.

“Over a period of approximately six years and eight months hundreds of payments, almost 300, were paid into her account from HCF and that totalled $774,000.”

Ms Christopherson told the court Mylius’s motivation for the crime was greed and she was a “woman living well above her means”.

She said Mylius had travelled overseas several times during the nearly seven-year period including to New York, Las Vegas and to Montreal.

Mylius did pay Dr Abdool $751,000 from the sale of her investment property at Marine de in Kingscliff, but Ms Christopherson said that was the result of a civil matter.

“The complainant froze through the Supreme Court her assets. This (restitution) is the result of a legal proceeding the complainant had to start and pay those costs.”

Defence barrister Anton Maher disagreed with the prosecutor’s claim and said it wasn’t “all Ferraris and fireworks” for his client.

Mr Maher said Mylius was a single mother with two difficult sons and was trying to make ends meet.

Mylius was convicted and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail with a parole release date of September 13, 2022.