A non resident Indian doctor in the United Kingdom has been jailed for a year and asked to compensate 7000 pounds after she was found guilty of forging time sheets to claim more than 41,000 pounds from the National Health Service.
39-year-old Dr Debasmita Mukhopadhyay-Chattopadhyay was employed by the South Tyneside District Hospital to work for short stints on four occasions, but was not re-employed as her work was found not good enough.
After she left in February 2004, Debasmita allegedly forged three of her bosses' signatures to put claims in for a further 11 months' worth of work - a total of 41,793.5 pounds.
She has also been accused of submitting time sheets for work on two occasions when she was on holiday in India. When police raided her flat in the Darlington Memorial Hospital, they found a number of pay slips for a period when she was not employed. The prosecution also alleged that a half-completed time sheet was found at the flat, as well as 267 blank sheets.
Sentencing her for a year in the Newcastle Crown Court on Friday, Judge Tony Lancaster said: "I can tell you from my perspective it is a sad sight to see a doctor, an intelligent and well-educated woman with beneficial skills in the dock for these offences."
"But in spite of your positive qualities of which there are many, greed got a hold on you and you committed these offences, stealing over 41,000 pounds although I observe you have repaid 30,000 pounds of that which you had taken.
"You, as a professional doctor, were trusted by your colleagues. You had no need of the money you had taken.
