Nigerian couple, Emmanuel Nbanga and Remilekun Olusesi, have been convicted at the Worcester Crown Court in the United Kingdom, following their roles in an audacious £279,000 supply fraud scheme targeted at the National Health Service (NHS).
The operation involved stealing vital medical stock from a UK hospital and selling it directly back to the exact same facility.
The mastermind behind the scheme, 45-year-old Emmanuel Nbanga of Solihull, was found guilty of fraud by abuse of position and fraudulent trading following a comprehensive jury trial.
The inside loop
According to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA), Nbanga was employed as a materials management assistant at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, operating under the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Between October 2016 and September 2019, Nbanga systematically pilfered high-value medical items from operating theatre stock rooms.
He then passed the stolen supplies to Solomon Adeyemi, 57, the director of Ultimate Medical (UK) Ltd (UML), a business based in Tyseley, Birmingham.
Investigators revealed that UML would turn around and sell the stolen inventory back to the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Shockingly, audit trails showed that some medical items were sold back to the hospital trust up to three or four times over, compounding financial losses.
How the scheme collapsed
The three-year operation unravelled when the trust launched a routine formal tender process. Officials noticed that Ultimate Medical (UK) Ltd was submitting bids with unusually low pricing structures.
Subsequent tracking and verification checks exposed that the specific identification serial numbers on the newly delivered medical packages perfectly matched items that the hospital trust had already purchased in previous procurement cycles.
Further financial investigations by the NHSCFA uncovered a money laundering ring. Funds paid by the NHS Trust into UML’s corporate account were quickly funnelled out to Lawyis Medical UK Ltd—a front company established by Nbanga’s wife, 40-year-old Remilekun Olusesi.
Olusesi was subsequently convicted of money laundering through the acquisition, retention, use, or control of criminal property. Their business partner, Adeyemi, was also found guilty of fraudulent trading.
Reacting to the judicial outcome, NHSCFA investigator Dave Horsley described the case as deeply unsettling, noting that the stolen inventory was explicitly earmarked for critical patient surgeries.
The defendants are expected to be sentenced at a later date.
