NSW GP Charged in Medical Certificate Scam Over Insurance and University Fee Claim

NSW GP Charged in Medical Certificate Scam Over Insurance and University Fee Claim
Nurse Catherine Askin performs a consultation with patient Rachel Roth at the COVID-19 and flu assessment clinic, Prince of Wales Hospital on May 12, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
AAP
By AAP
7/2/2020
Updated:
7/2/2020

A Sydney GP and another man have been charged over insurance and university fee claim scams involving false medical certificates.

Police say the 50-year-old doctor and the 46-year-old man were arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into compulsory third party insurance fraud syndicates operating across Sydney.

The GP was arrested at Bankstown Police Station on July 2, a day after the other man was arrested at a Bass Hill home.

Their arrests came after investigators discovered that false medical certificates were being submitted to universities in suspected attempts to avoid fees under the NSW government’s student visa training scheme.

Similar medical certificates were also suspected of being submitted in fraudulent compulsory third party insurance claims, police said.

It will be alleged in court the GP created the false medical records and certificates, and the other man co-ordinated their supply.

Both men were granted bail and are due to face the Bankstown Local Court on July 22 charged with multiple fraud offences, including make false document to obtain financial advantage and conspire with other to cheat and defraud.

So far 37 people have been charged by detectives investigating the compulsory third party insurance fraud syndicates, in relation to nearly $17 million in fraudulent claims.

Sydney