Fraud doctor is told to repay £75,000 to NHS

A DISGRACED doctor who moonlighted while on sick pay must pay back £75,000 to the NHS or face two years in jail.

Gynaecologist Dr Anthony Madu, 45, secretly carried out well-paid locum work while on paid sick leave from another hospital. Nigerian-born Madu was convicted of six charges of fraud and given a two-year suspended sentence in 2014.

He has now been told at a Proceeds of Crime hearing that he must repay £75,620.73 within six months or go to prison.

Madu was given an obstetrics and gynaecology registrar post at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, in August 2009. But he was suspended and put on extended leave just two months later over allegations about his conduct towards other staff and claims he had falsified his training record.

From January 2010, he submitted sick notes on three occasions, saying he could not work because of stress. But he then went on to earn huge sums as a locum at four hospitals in Manchester, Yorkshire and the Midlands. Prosecutor Christian Jowett told Cardiff Crown Court that Madu, now living in Woolwich, London, transferred £95,000 to a bank account in Nigeria.

Mr Jowett said: ‘He was legally obliged to tell his employers about his work but he did not. He was also legally obliged to tell two locum agencies he was on extended leave and had been granted sickness leave. But he continued to work and receive payment.’

Judge David Wynn Morgan said Madu will never be able to practise medicine in the UK again. After the hearing, Cheryl Hill, a counter-fraud specialist for the NHS, said: ‘This is a very satisfactory outcome. Dr Anthony Madu defrauded the NHS of money which should have been spent on patient care.’