A co-owner of the company running clinics in Zabrze and Tychy has been charged with 3,963 offences. According to investigators, he instructed staff to enter environmental therapy into medical records that never took place, in order to fraudulently obtain reimbursements from the National Health Fund (NFZ).
How the scheme worked
The charges concern the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021. According to police, the person authorised to manage the company instructed employees to prepare medical documentation containing false information about environmental therapy being carried out. These documents were then used to justify reimbursement claims submitted to the NFZ.
A statement from the Silesian police described how these “therapies” worked in practice. Reception staff handed patients entering the clinics a questionnaire to fill in and took their temperature. These activities were then reported to the NFZ as environmental therapy.
Charges and scale of the investigation
The co-owner has been charged with 3,963 offences. They concern certifying untruths in documentation, using such documentation, and fraud to the detriment of the NFZ amounting to over PLN 163.5 thousand.
The investigation was conducted by officers from the Anti-Corruption Department of the Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Katowice, under the supervision of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Rybnik. Officers questioned around 500 witnesses. During searches of both clinics, they secured extensive medical documentation.
NFZ audits carried out at the prosecutor’s request confirmed irregularities. A decision was also issued to secure assets worth PLN 96 thousand.
Request for a verdict without trial
The suspect admitted to the alleged offences and declared his voluntary submission to punishment. Police said the unlawfully received funds had been returned to the NFZ together with the imposed penalty.
On 12 October, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Rybnik submitted a request to the District Court in Zabrze for a conviction without holding a trial. As of publication, the court had not announced a ruling. As in every case, the man, who has not yet been convicted, is presumed innocent.
