Portsmouth GP jailed for fraud after 'six weeks of madness'

Dr Rumi Chhapia was "seduced" by his gambling addiction, Portsmouth Crown Court heard

A GP who embezzled more than £1.1m in "six weeks of madness" to pay for his online gambling habit has been jailed.

Dr Rumi Chhapia, 45, stole the funds from a company that oversaw a group of GP practices in Portsmouth.

He was a director of the company he defrauded but had been "seduced by his addiction to gambling", Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

Chhapia pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and was jailed for three years and four months.

The court heard that Chhapia founded Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance Limited (PPCA), a collection of GP practices in and around the city, whose role included tendering out-of-hour services.

The father-of-one from Southsea stole the funds from the healthcare group in 65 transfers during a 41-day period in 2020 to pay off slot machine and roulette debts, the court was told.

The court heard he gambled away £2.5m, of which he recouped £1.2m of his losses. He went on to repay £238,000 to the company.

'Embarrassed'

Passing sentence, Judge Keith Cutler said the doctor had "abused the trust" that had been placed in him.

"Your duty as a GP should have been to provide the very best of care to your patients, that should have been the pinnacle of your care, but you were dishonest," he told Chhapia.

"You were seduced by your addiction to gambling."

A statement from the PPCA read to the court said staff had needed counselling and "the people of Portsmouth had lost a chunk of NHS money which could have been used to benefit their care".

In mitigation, Stan Reiz QC said his client was a "hard-working, honest and talented doctor" who at the time suffered with an undiagnosed gambling disorder.

"He has embarrassed the company he built from the ground up and himself for six weeks of madness," he added.