A fraudster who stole a doctor's identity and credentials before working undetected for more than a decade in the NSW health system has been fined $30,000.
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Shyam Acharya fled Australia in January, three days after he was served with a court attendance notice for a charge relating to him falsely representing himself as a doctor.
It later emerged that, between 2003 and 2014, he worked at hospitals in Manly, Hornsby, Gosford, Wyong and Mona Vale using the identity of British-based doctor Sarang Chitale.
Acharya stole Dr Chitale's university degrees and medical certification when the pair lived together, with Dr Chitale's grandmother, in India between 1999 and 2000.
Acharya later obtained Australian citizenship using Dr Chitale's name.
A NSW Police strike force has been set up to try to hunt Acharya down after he left the country.
In the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, the fake doctor was convicted and fined in his absence for the "blatant" misrepresentation.
The charge of claiming he was authorised to work as a medical practitioner without being registered, was brought on by the Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
Natasha Blake, acting for the agency, said Acharya had held himself out as a medical practitioner.
"What we are dealing with is, for a period in excess of 10 years, a person operating under the stolen identity of a overseas doctor has participated in the public health system," she told the court.
The court heard Acharya worked for NSW Health, including as a senior medical registrar at Wyong and a trainee registrar in the intensive care unit at Hornsby, until 2015.
He was then employed as a medical director at Novotech, a research company, until September 2016.
Novotech discovered he had the same medical registration in Britain as the real Dr Chitale, a British resident.
Acharya claimed on his CV he had a string of university degrees, including an MBA and another obtained in India.
Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson said inquiries were made with Dr Chitale's supervisor in Britain and it became apparent Acharya was using his identity.
Ms Atkinson said that, while the actual offence was limited to July-September 2016, when Acharya was at Novotech, she acknowledged he had practised medicine in Australia for years before that.
She found the offence was of the most serious level and warranted the maximum penalty of a $30,000 fine.
She also ordered Acharya pay the prosecution costs of more than $22,000.
