Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO / CATANIA – The Regional Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Auditors in Palermo has issued a summons against a plastic surgeon active in the provinces of Catania and Messina, alleging damage to public funds exceeding €373,000. Although the professional had signed an “intramural” (exclusive) contract with the public healthcare authority he worked for, he is accused of improperly carrying out “extramural” activities in private facilities without authorization and without helping to clear the growing hospital waiting lists.
Public service duties while present in private clinics: the Guardia di Finanza investigation
The investigations, delegated by the accounting judiciary, were conducted by the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza in Catania. According to the investigators’ findings, in 2021 the doctor allegedly received the exclusivity allowance from the public healthcare system while performing unauthorized freelance work in various private clinics across the provinces of Catania and Messina, as well as on behalf of a temporary employment agency.
On several occasions, the private procedures were performed on the same days and at the same times the surgeon was officially on hospital duty. Furthermore, the doctor is alleged to have operated inside a private clinic in the Messina area, using other colleagues as “fronts” in medical records and accounting invoices.
Patients interviewed and “coded” schedules: undeclared earnings uncovered
Reconstructing the undeclared earnings from cosmetic treatments proved particularly complex. The Guardia di Finanza managed to decode the off-the-books documentation seized at the doctor’s office: a personal agenda in which the actual private fees received were systematically recorded using a complex system of alphanumeric codes. To confirm the circumstantial evidence and quantify the sums withheld from the tax authorities and the healthcare service, the Guardia di Finanza cross-referenced data by interviewing over 130 patients.
Head of department, clinic and front colleague jointly liable
The Court of Auditors’ summons does not only concern the plastic surgeon. As they are considered jointly liable for the damage to public funds caused to the public administration, the following have also been summoned:
- The head of the hospital department, accused of failing to monitor the doctor’s actual presence during scheduled shifts;
- The private clinic in the Messina area where the surgical procedures were performed;
- Another doctor, who allegedly allowed his name to be falsely listed on the clinic’s medical and tax documents in place of his colleague.
