The United Kingdom’s National Health Service Counter Fraud Authority has announced the conviction of Nigerian doctor Richard Akinrolabu, who was sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding the NHS of more than £268,000.
According to a statement released on Monday by the NHSCFA, Akinrolabu, a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Princess Royal University Hospital, repeatedly claimed to be unwell and unable to work night or on-call shifts between 2018 and 2021. While citing ill health to reduce his workload, he secretly took up night duties at other hospitals.
The NHSCFA said Akinrolabu was paid his full salary by King’s College Hospital Trust, which also had to hire locum doctors to cover the shifts he refused to perform. Investigators later discovered that he had been working identical shifts at three other NHS trusts during the same period.
The statement read, “A former NHS resident doctor has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to defrauding the NHS out of more than £268,000. Between October 2018 and December 2021, he worked on-call and night shifts at three additional trusts, despite informing his employer that he was unfit to do the same work for them.”
Suspicion arose in November 2021, when King’s College Hospital received information that Akinrolabu had been spotted working night shifts at Basildon Hospital. Further checks uncovered multiple on-call shifts at other trusts, all carried out while he was on sick leave or reduced duties.
Following a detailed investigation, the NHSCFA invited Akinrolabu for questioning in 2022, but he declined to comment. He was later charged with four counts of fraud by false representation and pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court.
The NHSCFA said timesheet and payroll records confirmed that he neither sought nor received approval for any secondary employment during the period in question.
Akinrolabu, 61, was sentenced on November 4, 2025, after admitting all charges.
In his remarks, Judge David Miller said, “You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.”
NHSCFA Head of Operations, Ben Harrison, described the case as a blatant betrayal of trust. “By working additional on-call and night shifts, despite being unfit to do so, Akinrolabu defrauded the NHS of substantial funds that should have supported patient care,” he said.
The case adds to a growing list of Nigerians implicated in fraud overseas. In September, authorities in the United Kingdom arrested Farouk Adekunle Adepoju following a request from the United States, where he faces charges of wire and computer fraud after allegedly hacking a university contractor’s email system to divert payments.
