270,000 stolen
December 28, 2007
An NHS review has stated that £270,000 was stolen from its own funding through fraud by a solicitor, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
George Brangham stole the money while undertaking legal work for several different NHS bodies in Northern Ireland, through using double billing.
The corrupt solicitor died earlier this year - while under investigation from the Fraud Squad.
In 2006, industry regulators the Law Society had closed his Belfast practice as the investigation got under way.
Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly's health committee Iris Robinson said that "lessons must be learned" from the case.
The £270,000 figure is contained in the government's NHS accounts report for the 2006/07 period.
Solicitor negligence-related legal proceedings related to the fraud are also ongoing, which aims to claim back the six figure sum through Mr Brangham's own insurers.