9 August 2011
Media Release
Pharmacist pleads guilty to fraud
Auckland pharmacist Wayne Baker has pleaded guilty in court today to 95 charges of defrauding Auckland District Health
Board by submitting nearly $70,000 in false claims for payment.
Ministry of Health investigators said Mr Baker, 54, who is director of Sandringham Village Pharmacy, claimed payment for
dispensing prescriptions that were either expired, not requested by patients or not authorised by the prescriber. The
fraudulent claims totalled almost $70,000 between July 2006 and July 2009, when Ministry of Health investigators
discovered the fraud.
In some cases, the pharmacy used the names of deceased patients to claim for payments. It also claimed for dispensing
more expensive proprietary medicines though it had only supplied cheaper generic versions.
Mr Baker has repaid the entire amount. He has been remanded on bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 11.
ENDS