A GANG is accused of fleecing Worcestershire’s hospitals of more than £322,000 – with the NHS already on its knees because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Solomon Adeyemi, Emmanuel Nbanga and his wife Remilekun Olusesi did not enter pleas to fraud, theft and money laundering against Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust when they appeared before magistrates in Worcester yesterday.

The trust runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. The case involves the alleged theft of medical equipement and supplies.

Ralph Robyns-Landricombe, prosecuting, said: “Mr Nbanga was in the employ of the NHS and is alleged to have been stealing theatre equipment from the hospital (the Alexandra) where he worked. As a result of this role he was then organising the procurement to purchase items back from a company established by him.”

The case involves the alleged theft of single use supplies from operating theatres which were then said to be sold back to the trust.

The prosecutor told magistrates that the total value of the alleged theft and fraud was £322,482 made up of invoices paid by the trust, the value of invoices received for which no payment was made and the value of stock recovered during a search.

Solomon Adeyemi, 52, of Cole Hall Lane, Birmingham is accused of entering into/being concerned in the acquisition, retention or use of criminal property by fraudulently obtaining payments from the NHS trust between October 23, 2017 and February 7, 2020.

He faces a charge of concealing/disguising/converting or transferring criminal property by making cheque payments and electronic transfers into the personal accounts of his two co-defendants and the business account of Lawyis Medical UK Ltd between December 27, 2017 and November 7, 2019.

Adeyemi is also charged with acquiring/using criminal property by fraudulently obtaining bank transfers from the NHS trust into the account of Ultimate Medical UK Ltd between December 27, 2017 and July 29, 2019. The last charge is possessing/controlling identity documents with intent (a Nigerian passport in the name of Patrick Smith) between November 28, 2013 and June 25, 2017.

Emmanuel Nbanga, 40, of Skye Close, Birmingham is charged with fraud by abuse of position while working for the acute trust as a materials management assistant at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

It is alleged that he ‘dishonestly abused that position’ between October 23, 2017 and September 11, 2019. The defendant also faces a charge of theft by an employee of £291,833 from the trust between October 23, 2017 and September 11, 2019.

Further to this, Nbanga stands accused of entering into/being concerned in the acquisition/retention/use or control of criminal property. It is said fraudulent payments were obtained from the trust between October 23, 2017 and February 7, 2020. The final charge is concealing/disguising/converting/transferring or removing criminal property between December 27, 2017 and November 4, 2019 involving the alleged electronic transfer to the personal bank accounts of his co-defendants.

Olusesi, 35, of Skye Close, Birmingham is charged with concealing/disguising/transferring/removing criminal property; acquiring/using/possessing criminal property; and entering into/being concerned in the acquisition/retention or use of criminal property. All three were bailed to attend Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, February 23.

A representative of NHS Counter Fraud Authority, Dave Horsley, was present at the hearing.

The prosecutor said the loss to the trust had ‘huge consequences and financial implications on an already strained public purse’.

For more on this case, see worcesternews.co.uk