Health fund fraud: Plovdiv court keeps alleged organiser in custody
A medical professor is accused of organising fictitious hospital stays worth around 3 million euros. In court she said she felt moral guilt.
Symbolic image · Photo: Isip2 westboro / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
The Court of Appeal in Plovdiv on Thursday upheld the detention of the alleged organiser of a large-scale scheme to defraud Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK). While in custody, medical professor Mariela G. resigned from her leading posts at St George University Hospital and the Medical University of Plovdiv. According to the prosecution, around 3 million euros were claimed from the fund for fictitious examinations and hospital stays, using the data of 2,500 patients without authorisation.
The defence had asked for a lighter measure, including bail. Prosecutor Yordanka Tilova argued that the accused could influence witnesses even from outside, as "many investigative steps are still to come". The court saw a real risk that she could commit another offence, influence witnesses or alter documents at a medical centre of which she is the majority owner. In court, according to BNT, she said she felt guilt "not only as a punishment, but also purely morally", though she did not admit to a leading role in the scheme.
Prosecutors in Blagoevgrad are also investigating health fund fraud: at the local lung hospital, 48 fictitious hospital stays worth almost 20,000 euros are alleged to have been billed between January 2020 and January 2021. The former director and the then head nurse are suspected. The regional health insurance fund imposed a sanction; the Administrative Court in Blagoevgrad rejected the hospital's appeal, and the Supreme Administrative Court is expected to give a final ruling by the end of October. All those concerned are presumed innocent.