The former finance director of the Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust was jailed for a year yesterday when a court found him guilty of a multimillion-pound fraud.
The Times reports that the Chelmsford Crown Court found that Philip Neal had falsified the valuations of hospital land so that it would seem that the trust had generated profits rather than a substantial deficit.
The trust would have posted a £1m profit for 2005/2006 if the false valuations had not been discovered, but when the true figures emerged the trust was in a £10m deficit.
Sentencing the NHS FD, Anthony Goldstaub QC said: 'You forged bogus land valuation reports designed to present a falsely inflated profit in the revenue account for the year.'
The defence for Neal, who took on the FD role in 2001, said he was under 'immense pressure' to meet stringent financial targets set by government.
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