The United Kingdom’s National Health Service Counter Fraud Authority, NHSCFA, has secured a three-year prison sentence against Nigerian doctor Richard Akinrolabu for defrauding the NHS of more than £268,000 through false representation.
According to a statement published on the NHSCFA website on Monday, Akinrolabu formerly a trust-grade specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at Princess Royal University Hospital deceived his employers for years by claiming he was medically unfit to work night or on-call shifts. Despite these claims, he secretly took up additional employment at other NHS trusts, where he worked the very same shifts he said he was unable to perform.
Authorities said Akinrolabu carried out the fraud between October 2018 and December 2021, receiving full pay from King’s College Hospital while simultaneously earning from other trusts. To cover for his absences, KCH was forced to hire locum staff further increasing the financial loss to the health service.
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The NHSCFA revealed that in November 2021, KCH received a tipoff that the doctor had been regularly working night shifts at Basildon Hospital despite being on sick leave. A local counter-fraud team confirmed he had worked multiple on-call shifts at three separate NHS trusts without approval.
Following internal investigations, the NHSCFA launched its own inquiry, gathered evidence, and invited Akinrolabu for an interview in 2022. He declined to comment.
Akinrolabu was later charged with four counts of fraud by false representation and, after pleading guilty on September 3, 2025, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on November 4, 2025.
In delivering judgment, Judge David Miller condemned the doctor’s conduct, stating:
“You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.”
NHSCFA Head of Operations, Ben Harrison, said the case reflected a “deliberate abuse of trust” by a medical professional who knowingly violated employment rules for financial benefit.
“By working additional on-call and night shifts despite claiming to be unfit, Akinrolabu defrauded the NHS of substantial funds that should have supported patient care,” Harrison said.
Akinrolabu now joins the growing list of Nigerians convicted abroad for fraud-related offences. In September, PUNCH Metro reported the arrest of another Nigerian, Farouk Adekunle Adepoju, accused by U.S. authorities of hacking a construction company’s email system to divert payments.
