Zimbabweans guilty of £300k NHS fraud and money-laundering
Five Zimbabwean nationals have been convicted in the United Kingdom in connection with a fraud and money-laundering scheme targeting the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and a major NHS trust.
According to official results published by the NHSCFA, a 42-year-old Zimbabwean man named Edias Mazambani pleaded guilty on 3 September 2025 at Southwark Crown Court to the charge of “fraud by abuse of position”. The court heard that Mazambani had been employed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as a credit controller, and he used his access to systems to process false refund requests from funds held on behalf of patients and clients.
In parallel, four other Zimbabwean defendants namely George Magaya (48), Rosemary Magaya (37), Michelle Tengende (40) and Sinqobile Pasipanodya (43) were found guilty of money-laundering offences linked to the same scheme. George Magaya pleaded guilty on 3 September, while the jury found the other three guilty on 14 October. Two of the convicted, Rosemary Magaya and Michelle Tengende, were working for the NHS at the time the offences were committed.
The NHSCFA’s investigation uncovered that the fraudulent refund claims amounted to more than £218,000 successfully paid out, with an additional £84,000 of fraudulent claims prevented placing the total identified fraud at over £302,000. Financial investigators traced the flow of funds from the NHS trust to bank accounts controlled by the defendants and their associates, and used powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to trace the movement of the criminal proceeds.
The case illustrates how internal personnel with access to financial systems can exploit trust and misuse their role to facilitate large-scale fraud. Ben Harrison, Head of Operations at the NHSCFA, described the offending as “a sophisticated internal fraud that exploited the trust of patients and the NHS system.”
All five defendants are currently released on unconditional bail ahead of their sentencing, which is expected to take place in January 2026 at Southwark Crown Court.
