The 65-year-old vehemently rejected the allegations made against him and made it clear to the jury that he did not need to go wrong. He is a “well-known doctor and professor”, has devoted himself to his training for a quarter of a century and has performed 3,000 operations so far.
“Sputnik V” supposedly co-developed
He is “more of a scientist. I deal with vaccinations against cancer and viruses, ”the man had the interpreter translate. The defendant alleged that he was involved in the development of a preliminary stage for the Russian anti-corona vaccine “Sputnik V”.
The prosecutor, however, saw in him primarily a cunning deceiver. The man knew how to develop a system with which dozens of seriously ill people from the former Soviet Union could be treated in Austria at the taxpayer’s expense.
Accordingly, the doctor had the co-defendant – a 54-year-old office service provider – set up several limited partnerships. The sick were registered as limited partners, with the prosecution falsely pretending that they were doing business for the companies. With this justification, an insurance in the Austrian social security system could be obtained, whereby in a number of cases children were also insured who needed medical treatment, for example because they had cancer.
Wrong business card
“The whole thing was a deception,” emphasized the prosecutor. In truth, the insured would never have developed a professional activity for the companies: “The only purpose was that they or their children receive treatment in Austria.” organizes the treatments and acts as an interpreter.
During a house search at the 65-year-old’s Viennese address, a business card was found that identified him as a doctor working at the Vienna General Hospital. He was only known there as a colleague from outside who persistently tried to accommodate his own patients. “Some of the doctors were angry about his behavior. Sometimes he was kicked out because he was so annoying, ”revealed the prosecutor.
Patients entered the country on tourist visas
According to the prosecution, the fact that the case was designed to be fraudulent could also be seen from the fact that the insured persons came from Russia with tourist visas and did not even try to obtain a job-related residence permit. If the treatments then lasted longer than expected, humanitarian right to stay was sometimes applied for.
The social insurance paid the costs for very expensive cancer therapies, which in individual cases amounted to more than 100,000 euros. Expensive cancer drugs were also paid for, “although there is a suspicion that these were also sent to Russia,” as the prosecutor said. The period of the offense covers the years 2012 to 2020.
“Cancer specialist” and “recognized physician”
“The indictment contains a lot of imprecision,” countered Andreas Reichenbach, the doctor’s defense lawyer. He referred to the 65-year-old’s “impressive résumé”: “He has devoted his entire life to medicine. He has published 278 articles in various medical journals. He has applied for 260 patents. He’s a cancer specialist, an incredibly recognized medical professional. “
As a second pillar, the doctor got involved in the production and trade of soy caviar and founded several companies. For this he needed employees whom he had registered as limited partners in the companies. “They were often working in the company long before they fell ill,” emphasized Reichenbach.
His client was “not a quack”, the lawyer finally clarified. Rather, he “helped many people with his expertise”, arranged contacts with other doctors and was never looking for a financial advantage.
Up to ten years imprisonment possible
The co-defendant partially confessed. Its defender Markus Bachmann described the 54-year-old as a “trusting person”. As such, he believed the first defendant’s caviar business to be credible and therefore founded companies and filled out insurance applications on his behalf. “It was a typing service.
At first he was of the opinion that everything was right, “said Bachmann. The first defendant understood how to“ cast a spell over people. ” had delivered to the Ritz Carlton, resided in luxury hotels and drove an expensive Mercedes. “
At some point, however, the 54-year-old would have doubts about the legality of the processes, admitted Bachmann. He had confronted the doctor who had reassured him that the 54-year-old had “unfortunately not got out”. The fraud process is initially scheduled until March. The accused face up to ten years imprisonment if they are found guilty.
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