Three people from Scotland have been charged after an inquiry into an alleged £12 million fraud against NHS trusts and the Guernsey government.
Arif Habib, 54, Zahid Muhammed, 46, both from Glasgow, and Monica Thomson, 38, from Airdrie, are due to appear at Lincoln Magistrates Court after public bodies were contacted by people masquerading as legitimate construction companies, who then provided false bank details for payments.
The inquiry was led by the Economic Crime Unit of Lincolnshire Police, supported by NHS Protect and Guernsey Police. Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust reported being the victim of fraud in September 2011.
Further inquiries centred on other NHS trusts and public bodies throughout the UK, and the States of Guernsey.
Mr Habib and Ms Thomson are among nine people charged with conspiracy to defraud between January and July 2012. They have also been charged, along with Zahid Muhammed and four others, with conspiracy to launder criminal property between the same period.
A fifteenth defendant, Oghogho Ehanire, 41, from Preston, has been charged with one offence of entering into an arrangement to launder criminal property.
Clare Tripcony, specialist fraud prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "I have authorised charges of conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to launder money and entering an arrangement to launder criminal property. I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute."
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