LONDON — A Nigerian doctor Richard Akinrolabu has been sentenced to three years in prison in Britain after admitting to defrauding the National Health Service of more than 268,000 Dollars by secretly working night shifts at multiple hospitals while claiming he was too ill to do the same work for his primary employer.
Richard Akinrolabu, 61, was employed as a trust grade specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynecology at Princess Royal University Hospital. Between 2018 and 2021, he repeatedly told King’s College Hospital that he was medically unfit to take on night or on‑call duties. Yet investigators later discovered he was working those very shifts at three other NHS trusts, pocketing extra pay while his employer was forced to hire locum doctors to cover his absence.
The National Health Service (NHS) Counter Fraud Authority said the deception unraveled in late 2021 when King’s College Hospital received information that Akinrolabu had been moonlighting at Basildon Hospital. A probe revealed he had worked dozens of on‑call shifts elsewhere while on sick leave or reduced duties.
At Woolwich Crown Court, Akinrolabu pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation. Judge David Miller, in sentencing him on November 4, 2025, said: “You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.”
Ben Harrison, head of operations at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, called the case “a clear and deliberate abuse of trust” and said the funds lost should have gone to patient care. “By working additional on‑call and night shifts, despite being unfit to do so, Akinrolabu defrauded the NHS of substantial funds that should have supported patients,” he said.
Health advocates expressed concern that the case could erode public trust in the medical profession. “Doctors are held to the highest standards of integrity. When one abuses that trust, it damages confidence in the system,” said a spokesperson for a UK medical ethics watchdog.
Nigerian community leaders in London also reacted with disappointment. “This conviction is a reminder that our professionals abroad must uphold the values of honesty and accountability,” said one leader, adding that the case should not overshadow the contributions of thousands of Nigerian doctors working honorably in the NHS.
Parents of patients voiced anger at the misuse of funds. “Every pound lost to fraud is a pound that could have gone to better care for our children,” one mother told reporters outside the court.
Akinrolabu’s conviction adds to a growing list of Nigerians prosecuted abroad for fraud. In September, British authorities arrested Farouk Adekunle Adepoju following a U.S. indictment alleging he hacked into a Pennsylvania construction company’s email system to divert payments. Earlier in 2025, five Nigerians were sentenced in the United States to a combined 159 years in prison for orchestrating a 17 million Dollars transnational fraud ring that scammed more than 100 victims.
The NHS itself has faced other fraud scandals. In one case, a fake psychiatrist was ordered to repay more than 400,000 Euros after forging medical qualifications to secure NHS positions. Other staff have been caught moonlighting while on sick leave, forcing hospitals to spend heavily on locum cover.
The case underscores the vulnerability of public institutions to insider abuse and the determination of the NHS to pursue fraud aggressively, even against its own staff.
