A NURSING assistant who defrauded the UK National Health Service of more than £60,000 after fraudulently claiming a bursary using forged papers has been told she faces deportation to Zimbabwe.
Lorraine Nkuni Tshuma, 47, will carry out 220 hours of community service after her 12 month prison sentence was wholly suspended for 18 months at the Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday.
She was served with a deportation notice on October 11 and faces assets seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The court heard Tshuma arrived in the UK in 2000 on a six month visitor’s visa to take a short training course. Since that visa expired nearly a decade ago in April 2001, she has had no leave to remain and no recourse to public funds.
But the mum of three obtained a false Home Office letter that appeared to grant her “indefinite leave to enter or remain” in the UK. This gave the illusion she had settled status, an essential precondition for NHS-funded training and bursaries.
She used the false Home Office letter to gain admission to a three year nurse training Diploma Course at Anglia Ruskin University in October 2004 – with £18,238 sponsored by the East of England Strategic Health Authority.
Shortly afterwards, using the same letter, she successfully applied for a full Diploma level NHS Student Bursary of £30,972.13 and dependants’ allowances for her three children, whom she brought to the UK.
By repeating the lie again in June 2008 to the Care UK employment agency, she went on to fraudulently earn £13,100 working in private care homes.
She was found guilty of four fraud offences, after a six day trial. Her deceptions were worth over £60,000 in total, including a loss to the NHS of £49,210.13.
Officers from the UK Border Agency, working with the NHS Counter Fraud Service, arrested Tshuma at her home in June 2009, and searched it. She later pleaded not guilty to all charges, on the grounds she had not believed that the Home Office document was false.
New evidence regarding false University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) certificates was introduced during the trial. This had come to light following an NHS CFS joint exercise with universities in the East of England.
In her application for the nursing place, Tshuma had submitted a forged CIE academic certificate. This appeared to show she had gained the equivalent to GCE 'O' Levels at Grade C for English and Maths in 1979 at Chegato High School in Zimbabwe, but this was not the case.
Michael Bowerman of CIE gave evidence in court, demonstrating that the document matched no records held by CIE and contained numerous errors.
In summing up, Judge Walden-Smith said that Tshuma's behaviour had been "both criminally and morally reprehensible".
Hilary Cullen, the NHS Counter Fraud Service’s Investigating Officer said: "While we are satisfied with this outcome, it would obviously be better for all concerned if these frauds were not committed in the first place.
“We hope this sentence acts as a deterrent to others who might defraud the NHS. We follow up any suspicion of fraud against the NHS that is reported to us and wherever appropriate will press for prosecution and the strongest sanctions against offenders."
Tshuma gained a certificate but did not pass the diploma to become a fully qualified nurse.