Sabina Grewal: Lindfield Pharmacy proprietor convicted of fraud

A north shore chemist’s epic fall from grace began with marriage infidelity and business failures, and ended with her defrauding Medicare of more than $360,000.

A Sydney pharmacist fleeced Medicare of almost $366,000 through fraudulent claims on hundreds of fake Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme scripts despite a life of privilege and a booming business.

Lindfield Pharmacy owner Sabina Grewal, 45, faced Sydney District Court on fraud charges after she submitted 524 fraudulent PBS script claims worth a whopping $365,922.09 to Medicare.

From November 2015 until August 2018 Grewal used Medicare numbers for herself and her family with provider numbers from other businesses including her own general practitioner’s practice, to make the claims on fake scripts.

Lindfield Pharmacy proprietor Sabina Grewal, 45.

Judge Garry Neilson said Grewal acted out of concern for her finances after taking over the Lindfield Pharmacy with her parents – despite the fact business was booming.

“She says ‘I don’t remember exactly when I decided to defraud Medicare, I’m at a loss to understand how I thought I was helping my parents overcome their financial woes’,” Judge Neilson said.

“It would appear she was making the necessary gross profit but in order to bolster herself she decided to defraud Medicare.”

Grewal narrowly avoided full-time imprisonment and was instead sentenced to an 18-month intensive corrections order with 350 hours of community service.

The court heard Grewal has also committed to repaying every cent she fraudulently claimed from Medicare once she sells Lindfield Pharmacy.

The Lindfield Pharmacy was intended to be a fresh start for the single mother after years of struggling with her health, along with the end of her marriage and a subsequent relationship.

At one point, Grewal’s parents – who were also her business partners – even bought out a neighbouring pizza restaurant in Lindfield to deter a Chemist Warehouse from moving in next to the pharmacy and posing a threat to their business.

However, financial stress – including an abandoned attempt at IVF due to Grewal’s difficulties falling pregnant a second time – led Grewal to crime.

Grewal (right) with her lawyer at court.

“The total of these 524 claims used the details of 12 healthcare providers by providing their Medicare provider numbers,” Judge Neilson said.

“She would use the Medicare numbers of herself and members of her family whose identities she used to effect the fraudulent payments – they may well have been correct but there was no actual prescription provided, nor was any drug actually dispensed.”

Grewal’s misdeeds were uncovered when she visited her general practitioner and he informed her she was under investigation for using his practice’s provider number to commit some of the frauds.

“The offender says ‘the next three months (before I was charged) were torturous days of fear, paranoia and anxiety’,” Judge Neilson said.

“She says ‘I was steeped in shame’.”

The charges represented a catastrophic fall from grace for Grewal, who once owned a successful pharmacy in South Cronulla with a medical practice operated by her mother-in-law.

A subsequent pharmacy she opened in Paddington with her husband and his sister was a “financial disaster”, exacerbated when Grewal was robbed at gunpoint.

The court heard the final straw was Grewal’s extramarital affair with a doctor employed at her own medical practice and both businesses were closed by 2007.

Despite attempts to repair their relationship Grewal had another affair with a man she met while working as a locum pharmacist and the marriage subsequently ended, the court heard.

Grewal and her new partner lived in Forbes for some time, where she gave birth to their daughter and worked as a pharmacist before an ill-fated stint in Lithgow that left Grewal “utterly miserable”.

Lindfield Pharmacy proprietor Sabina Grewal.

“The offender and her parents then explored the possibility of opening a pharmacy elsewhere,” Judge Neilson said.

“That led to them buying the Lindfield Pharmacy on October 1 2015.”

Grewal and her parents were on the hook for more than $2.7 million after borrowing money to buy the business from the bank, involving her mother’s superannuation and loaning money from relatives.

The financial pressure led Grewal to commit her first fraud less than two months later in November 2015 – despite the fact the pharmacy was actually thriving.

“The pharmacy was required to drive a gross profit of 35 per cent and (records show) it was driving at about 45 per cent,” Judge Neilson said.

“The offender said ‘my business broker was impressed with my ability to make a business so profitable, and my parents were proud of me for the first time in many years’.”

Grewal’s elderly parents sighed with relief when they realised their daughter would not have to serve her punishment in full-time custody.