A DOCTOR duped health bosses, insurers and the Benefits Agency in a £30,000 fake claims fiddle, a court was told.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Jogendra Prasad Ojha, senior partner at the Kusum Medical Practice, Oswaldtwistle, until May 1998, got cash from East Lancashire Health Authority for staff wages, but kept some for himself.

The doctor also sent in false invoices after work was done on the premises and inflated an insurance claim for computer equipment, the court was told. He also claimed almost £9,000 in benefits after he was supposed to have retired and said he wasn't well enough to work, the court heard.

The jury was told how Ojha tried to cash in on a health policy by saying he was unfit to practise.

His wife, also a doctor and partner in the practice, signed him off sick - but a private investigator sent by the insurance company made an appointment with the doctor at his surgery and was prescribed antibiotics, the court heard.

The defendant, described by the prosecution as "autocratic and intimidating" allegedly still ran the Union Road three partner practice after he officially retired, told staff to say he wasn't there and once climbed out of a window to avoid a call.

The court was told that staff feared for their jobs if they did not do as they were told.

Ojha, 63, of The Pastures, Beardwood, Blackburn, denies four counts of false accounting, three of obtaining a money transfer by deception, two of obtaining property by deception and one charge of attempted deception, said to have been committed between 1997 and 2001.

Charles Brown, prosecuting, said said former practice manager Amanda Young took on the title of fund manager when the surgery changed to a fund holding practice. The surgery was entitled to extra health authority money for the post. Although she was obliged to do more duties, the fund manager's part of her salary was not paid to her, he said.

Mr Brown said after a patient caused minor damage at the premises, the computer equipment was still working, but the defendant made an insurance claim and received £3,200. He then sent the equipment back and either he or the practice kept the pay-out.

The prosecutor told the court Ojha had permanent health policies with Wesleyan Insurance, claimed he was unfit to work and sent in a medical certificate signed by his wife.

The company instructed a private investigator and when he saw no sign of life at the doctor's home, he went to the surgery and got an appointment to see him. He was then prescribed antibiotics by Ojha who was working while claiming to be ill.

Mr Brown said after the defendant had been officially retired for seven months, he submitted a form to the Benefits Agency claiming he was a self employed medical practitioner but was unfit to work. He allegedly received more than £8,000.