Phosphagenics employees plead guilty over fraud

A former employee of Phosphagenics, Dr Robert Gianello, has pleaded guilty to the alleged theft of more than $4.6 million from the biotech company.

Dr Gianello recently appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court after an investigation by the corporate regulator ASIC.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining money by deception from Phosphagenics and its subsidiary, Vital Health Sciences (VHS). The three charges cover the period from November 2004 to August 2012 and involve $4,635,917.

Dr Gianello was employed by Monash University and worked on research and development on behalf of VHS between November 2004 and June 2008.

He was also a partner in a business which allegedly submitted false invoices to VHS.

The investigation found that Dr Gianello agreed to the submission of allegedly false invoices by a company associated with Dr Woei-Jia Jiang.

Dr Jiang was the director of two companies which submitted allegedly false invoices to Phosphagenics and VHS.

Dr Jiang also pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining money by deception. These three charges cover the period from June 2008 to June 2013 and involve $4,392,035.

The former CEO of Phosphagenics, Dr Esra Ogru, has also been implicated in the fraud and will next appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court for a preliminary hearing on 11 August 2014.