Dr Rumi Chhapia, a former director of Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance who for a time worked on the Isle of Wight, has been jailed for 3 years and 4 months at Portsmouth Crown Court today (Friday) after he defrauded the alliance of £1.13million.
Chhapia, 45 and from Southsea, made over 60 bank transfers to his own personal account in just a 6-week period, to fund his gambling addiction and spiralling financial debt.
Since admitting the fraud, Dr Chhapia has repaid a significant sum to the Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance. The gambling companies involved have also agreed to return the funds paid to them, which fortunately means the money taken from the Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance will be returned in full.
Lisa Garcia, CPS Wessex Senior Crown Prosecutor, said:
“Dr Chhapia exploited his position of trust to take an extraordinary amount of money, which diverted funds that would have otherwise been invested into providing better services, equipment and care to people across the Portsmouth area.
“The overwhelming financial evidence meant that Dr Chhapia had no choice but to admit the fraud to his work colleagues and to the police. He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and he will now face the consequences of his actions by serving the custodial sentence imposed”
Dr Rumi Chhapia pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position on 22nd September 2021.
This is one custodial sentence I don’t agree with. He admitted guilt and appears to be attempting to return all monies he stole. His actions were very wrong, but there was no violence or threats made to others. He does appear to have had some sort of problem, possibly with gambling, which would normally have been taken into account with other offences and sentencing, but not on this occasion. I consider it a waste of talent. The crime was committed whilst under great strain and whilst not knowing all the details of the case it does seem very harsh!
I agree.What he did was wrong but he has a massive gambling problem.I think he was probably relived to be caught in the end.A year sentence..serve 6 months and some sort of councilling would be more appropriate
He did not get behind the wheel of a car drunk and coked up or had a load of nasty pictures on his computer
How do you know he didn’t?
oh really andy – and if he had not been found out, he would have carried on and on. The trust would then have advised government it was short of cash, the demands for more money for the NHS would be trotted out and your newly created NHS levy on your earnings, would be put up and for what, to fund this disgusting lowlifes gambling
No – he deserves to be in jail and you know why – not because he is a thieving C*nt, but because so many people who were expecting to receive treatment were probably made to wait longer due to funding issues and what about the people he was treating – was his judgement off due to gambling? Misdiagnosis of patients?
Just for a bit of perspective he will serve 18 months then be on license so not too bad for a potential theft of over a million quid from the NHS. The fact that he gambled it rather than buying a big house or exotic holidays is irrelevant and lets not forget that the gambling companies returned most of the money, not Dr Chhapia, and were he any other professional or even a ‘commoner’ he would have got the same sentence and rightly so. As a man in a position of trust and a person who will have dealt with many patients with gambling, he should have known better.
Proper sentence at last, how many people had their treatment denied because of lack of funds. You hear it all the time, “sorry we know you are suffering but the treatment costs too much” come back in twenty or thirty years when he has paid it all back.