A carpenter who was found to have forged medical certificates in order to continue to receive payments under his workers compensation claim, has been gaoled for 9 months. The court also has ordered him to re-pay $112,975 in fruadlent payments received under the claim.
Gaoled for Forgery – Andres Uranga lodged a workers compensation claim after sustaining an eye injury while working as carpenter. Just 10 days afterwards, Mr Uranga then satrted working as a painter.
WorkSafe Victoria conducted an investigation into Mr Uranga’s workers compensation claim after an Independent Medical Expert (IME) approached Nominated Treating Doctor (NTD) about a possible return to work, to which it was found he had not visited his doctor in 18 months.
Mr Uranga was subsequently arrested by police on an unrelated matter and certificates of capacity to work were found in Mr Uranga’s possession. Some of the certificates had numbers cut out, which were changed to existing dates with sticky tape.
The medical certificates were forged to allow Mr Uranga to continue to receive workers’ compensation payments after he was banned from seeing his NTD for becoming aggressing and kicking in the surgery’s front gate.
WorkSafe Victoria said three certificates (submitted as part of the workers compensation claim) were found to have been illegally altered.
He has since been sentence to 9 months in gaol and ordered to pay back the $112,975, he received in compensation payments.
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Source: My Business
Title: Workers’ comp fraud sees carpenter jailed
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