Dentist jailed for NHS fraud
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- Published: Tuesday, 31 December 2013 08:17
- Written by News Editor
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Dental surgeon Jochemus Venter has been jailed for 18 months at Cardiff Crown Court for submitting fraudulent claims to NHS Dental Services for the provision of dental treatments totalling £47,947. The false claims were made from April 2006 to July 2010, while working at a dental practice in Llandrindod Wells, Wales. He pleaded guilty previously to eight charges of false accounting.
Claire Busby, a specialist fraud lawyer from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Dr Venter abused his position as a National Health Service contractor to defraud the taxpayer out of a substantial sum of money over many years. This was direct theft from an important public health service.
"He regularly and systematically made false claims for the provision of NHS dental treatment and has admitted to a total of 155 fraudulent claims, covering instances where either no treatment at all was provided, or substantially less was provided than was claimed for. He made feeble attempts to justify his behaviour by stating that he believed he was not adequately paid by the NHS but this simply demonstrated his greed and self-interest. Those who commit fraud, in whatever walk of life, should know they risk prosecution in a criminal court."
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