EXCLUSIVE
Felix Yue-Sing Chan worked hard to buy three pharmacies to manage after 12 years in the industry, but his pride quickly turned to fear as increased competition and the Covid-19 pandemic left him drowning in financial stress.
Feeling “aggrieved” against the person who sold him the businesses, shopping centre management and Medicare, he felt “entitlement to artificially inflate his business performance”.
Over two years, he used the identities of real patients and doctors to steal $288,595 from the Australian government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
That’s according to documents tendered to Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court as the 40-year-old appealed his two-year jail term for the crimes.
According to agreed facts tendered to court, Chan made 105 false PBS claims relating to 1070 pharmaceutical items at Ginninderra Pharmacy, Priceline Queanbeyan and Priceline Bungendore.
One medication he falsely claimed, a hepatitis C antiviral treatment called “Maviret,” cost nearly $19,000.
Chan lodged $56,435 worth of Maviret for two patients who never received it.
“The applicant knew on each occasion that he was making a false claim and used the real information of doctors and patients,” the facts read.
“The claims for payment were fraudulent because they sought payment for medications said to have been supplied by pharmacies operated by the applicant, when those medications had not been supplied”.
While many of the fake transactions went undetected, an issue...
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