• Former NHS manager Conrad de Souza jailed for 17 months after admitting six counts of fraud
  • NHS Protect says he took “extraordinarily large risks to win back power, prestige and financial rewards”
  • He lied about qualifications, previous convictions and his employment record when applying for jobs

A former NHS manager has been jailed for fraud for a second time after lying on NHS job application forms.

Conrad de Souza, 57, of Brompton Park Crescent, London, was jailed for 17 months on Thursday for lying about his qualifications, his previous convictions and his employment record.

In 2011 he was jailed for 27 months and ordered to repay £270,000 after lying that he was a qualified doctor to Lewisham Primary Care Trust, where he earned £329,000 working in clinical strategy between 2001 and 2010.

The court heard how Mr de Souza lied repeatedly in an attempt to get a job in senior management after leaving prison.

He failed to get a job but the multiple applications resulted in “wasted NHS money”, Richard Rippin, head of operations for NHS Protect said.

Mr Rippin said Mr de Souza had taken “extraordinarily large risks to win back the power, prestige and financial rewards he once illegitimately enjoyed, in senior NHS roles he had obtained by fraud, and was never qualified for”.

Mr de Souza maintained his innocence until the first day of his second trial, when he pleaded guilty to six out of nine counts of fraud, with three left on file.

He admitted to:

  • Lying about his employment and qualifications when applying to the Office for Public Management for the post of fellow in health on 24 September 2013.
  • Lying about his previous convictions, employment and qualifications to Slough borough council, when applying for the post of head of service care commissioning group on 31 October 2013.
  • Dishonestly making false representations about his previous employment and qualifications to Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead Clinical Commissioning Group and C4H Resourcing, while applying for the post of interim director of development commissioning on 6 February 2014.
  • Dishonestly making false representations about his previous convictions, employment and qualifications to Surrey Health CCG and to C4H Resourcing when applying for the post of transformation programme manager on 6-12 June 2014.
  • Dishonestly making false representations about his employment and qualifications to the Office for Public Management for the post of consultant in health on 27 June 2014.
  • Dishonestly made eight representations to the recruitment agency Dearden Interim about his qualifications and previous convictions between 12t August 2013 and 26 May 2014.

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