Doctor's R7m medical aid windfall forfeit

07 June 2017 - 09:36 By ADRIENNE CARLISLE
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The Grahamstown High Court yesterday ordered retired Mthatha surgeon Lizo Mazwai to pay back the R7-million a medical aid scheme mistakenly credited to his bank account.

Mazwai, who is a former long-serving dean of Walter Sisulu University Medical School, fought tooth and nail in court to keep the money. He said he had spent of it, believing it to be a legitimate pension payout.

But he will now have to find a way of paying back R7.08-million, plus interest of 9.5%, backdated to January last year.

Acting Judge Nicola Redpath-Molony ordered him to pay all the costs of the application.

According to court papers, Mazwai's claim to the Government Employees' Medical Scheme was compiled and submitted by Medical EDI Services - but instead of claiming for one operation at a cost of R2800, a claim was made for payment for 2469 operations at that price.

The result was a bill of over R7-million being submitted to Metropolitan Health which administers claims on behalf of the Government Employees' Medical Scheme.

Metropolitan Health's computer did not notice anything odd about the claim and approved payment.

Mazwai used the "windfall" to pay off debts and make investments.

There was only R2.5-million left, which he put into an interest-bearing trust account.

He has refused to pay the remaining amount to Metropolitan Health.

Redpath-Molony said it was clear that Metropolitan Health had paid the Government Employees' Medical Scheme mistakenly .

She dismissed Mazwai's claim that the money had been put into his account as part of a money-laundering scheme.

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