A man who posed for years as a qualified doctor by hijacking a genuine GP’s medical credentials has been jailed after a major fraud investigation by NHS Protect.

Luis Conrad de Souza, 53, of Whitmore Road, Beckenham, Kent, was also sentenced at the same court for supplying another person’s DNA to the Child Support Agency in order to disclaim paternity for his child.

He was jailed for 27 months in total: for the NHS offences he received 18 months in prison, and for the CSA-related offences he received 9 months, to be served consecutively.

Against the NHS, he committed two offences of Obtaining a Pecuniary Advantage by Deception, contrary to Section 16 of the Theft Act 1968. A charge of possession of an article for use in fraud, contrary to Section 6 of the Fraud Act 2006, was left by the court to lie on file.

De Souza received at least £361,000 of NHS money in fraudulently obtained earnings. He sustained the lie that he was a qualified doctor for many years, enabling him to work in well-paid strategic roles for Lewisham Primary Care Trust from 2001 to 2010.

His first role with Lewisham PCT, as head of commissioning and service development in 1999, required ‘education to degree level or equivalent’. In 2001, de Souza began work as a clinical adviser, which required a degree and clinical specialisms. In 2002, he completed a skills and experience summary and stated he was a fully-qualified GP.

In 2005 he obtained the post of clinical director of the South East London Clinical Cardiac Network (SELCCN), now known as the South London Cardiac and Stroke Network. It was essential for applicants to have a degree and clinical experience, but he had neither. However, his jobs did not require him to have direct contact with patients.

His CV stated that he had a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London, dated 1991 but the university’s records show that in fact he attended another of their colleges and he dropped out after two years.

He also claimed to have a BSc (1st Class Honours) in Biochemistry and Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, dated 1987. But Cambridge holds no record that he studied there either.

De Souza resigned from Lewisham PCT, on an unrelated matter, in August 2010.

Mick Hayes, anti-fraud lead at NHS Protect, said: “NHS Protect worked in partnership with Lewisham PCT and the Metropolitan Police to investigate Luis Conrad de Souza. This fraud was unusually large, and was a serious abuse of his high position in the NHS. The actions of NHS Protect have prevented him from continuing his criminal career inside the NHS. His conviction sends out the message that NHS Protect will always take reports of fraud seriously and an investigation will be launched wherever appropriate. We pursue all available sanctions to deter others from attacking valuable NHS resources.”

An NHS financial analyst and four accomplices have been sentenced for conspiring to defraud the NHS.

Analyst Lance Sewell was working at Guy’s & St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust when he diverted payments of £61,876.30 in total.

In January 2009, the bank details of four doctors were changed without their knowledge and their monthly salaries were diverted to other bank accounts to the tune of £16,402.

In July 2009, the trust’s accountants spotted suspicious alterations to an authorising manager’s signature. After some initial enquiries it was established that the trust was being targeted with the submission of fraudulent invoices. The audit team found that the payroll and invoice frauds were linked to a common bank account.

Nearly £100,000 worth of fraudulent invoices were also submitted but not paid due to the diligence of trust staff.

Sewell of Moremead Road, Catford, received 21 months in prison.

As the scale of the frauds became clear, NHS Protect, which handles larger, more complex and cross-boundary frauds, was called in to investigate. It gathered extensive evidence from payroll and creditor payment records and the audit team.

Mark Howard, London Area Anti-Fraud Specialist for NHS Protect, said: “This was a sustained and determined attack on NHS funds. The group kept changing its tactics to try and stay one step ahead of being detected, but failed, and these young men must now pay the price for their crimes. Who knows how much more they would have stolen from the NHS had we not stopped them.”