Fraudster dentists ordered to pay £1million

?Two disgraced Midland dentists have been ordered to pay almost £1 million in damages and costs after being sued for making false statements when selling a dental practice.

Jaspal Singh Bachada, aged 37, of Redlake Drive, Stourbridge, and Ikhlaq Hussain, aged 38, of Alum Rock, Birmingham, "intentionally deceived" AG Family Care Ltd when the company bought the pair's practice in Blackfriars Avenue, Droitwich, a court heard.

The pair, who are serving prison sentences for fraud, were ordered to pay damages of £851,660 plus costs of £140,000.

Birmingham Crown Court heard AG Family Care had bought the practice for £1.26m in April 2008, believing it was exclusively for private patients and had an annual turnover of £1.4m.

But the pair had actually been carrying out less-profitable NHS work and had a smaller turnover of around £1m.

Prosecutor Mr Stephen Whitaker, from Brindley Tafft & James solicitors who represented AG Family Care Ltd, said that upon completion of the sale, the company "immediately" discovered the figures were wrong.

A witness statement from partner Mr Ghods said: "I was horrified. I had been cheated". He was advised to "sue for fraud and misrepresentation".

Mr Whitaker said AG Family Care had incurred damages of £697,000 — the difference between what the firm bought then sold it for and suffered secondary losses of £41,042.85.

Judge Simon Brown QC ruled that all of the representations made by Bachada and Hussain were "demonstrably false", and both men "knew them to be so". He labelled Hussain a "very unimpressive witness" for his behaviour on the stand. Bachada did not attend the hearing.

He had pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud the NHS, while his co-accused Hussain was found guilty of the same charges.

Judge Brown was told the pair were serving prison sentences — Bachada 20 months and Hussain 30 months — but said it did not influence his judgement.