Fake ‘doctor’ was declared bankrupt by courts

A man who duped Mater Dei Hospital's administration into believing he was a PhD graduate, and who enjoyed being called 'dottore' to the extent that he was even granted a medical consultant's access card at Mater Dei Hospital, had been declared bankrupt by a court in 2006, which even ordered the decree to be backdated to 2001.

Pierre Buontempo, 41, of Guardamangia who faces criminal charges related to the fake identity and embezzlement, didn't even contest the bankruptcy claim and a judgement was handed down against him 'in absentia' by Mr Justice Raymond Pace on March 22, 2006.

Beyond the shocking evidence given in court last Thursday by a number of senior Mater Dei Hospital officials who explained how they were conned into believing Buontempo was a PhD graduate from an Italian university, who was also given an ID access card with the designation "consultant" printed on it, a simple search on Google would have yielded the man's chequered history.

Another judgement handed in July 2009 by the Civil Court condemned Buontempo for defrauding two families of Lm20,000 together with his brother Reuben, who was his business partner in a travel agency.

Besides being summoned before a magisterial inquiry in 2002 in connection to a money laundering investigation, Buontempo had been evicted in 2008 from the house he was living in Sta Venera by order of the Appeals Court presided by Judges Vincent Degaetano, JD Camilleri and Joseph Filletti. The court had confirmed a previous judgement handed by the lower courts that heard how Buontempo had secured the house through a private written agreement with Alexander Grech of Ludwig Limited for the sum of Lm180,000 but never paid up or signed a formal promise of sale.

The Appeals Court ruled that it was odd how Buontempo had expected to keep the house and never pay for it.

Buontempo moves to 'consultant recruitment' agency

Buontempo has meanwhile been traced to the offices of a competing firm he once worked for as a sales representative.

He answered the phone last Friday afternoon at Trebee Company Limited in Pietà, which in a mission statement published on its website says that it specialises in "engaging professional consultants who are regularly trained abroad and locally to keep abreast of all new developments."

Buontempo insisted that Albert Buttigieg, who is listed as the main contact person within the company "wasn't available" to talk to. He argued however that the charges levelled against him by the police were a "fabrication, unfounded and ridiculous."

He branded all witnesses who took the stand against him last Thursday in Magistrate Audrey Demicoli's courtroom as "liars," and refused to answer questions as to why he told hospital staff that he was a PhD graduate from an Italian university, and insisted to be addressed as "consultant" within the hospital.

During the sitting it emerged that Buontempo had resigned his post as salesman with Charles Degiorgio Company Limited the day that the company's managing director insisted that he produced his alleged graduation certificates.

David Stellini said that he was also duped into believing Buontempo's stories, and finally confronted him to produce the certificates he claimed to have.

But Buontempo's presence at Trebee Company Limited was revealing in itself as it confirmed his previous employer's concern about e-mails which were found to have been sent from Buontempo's computer giving away the quoted prices of his company's bid for a Mater Dei Tender to a competing supplier represented by Trebee Co. Ltd.

The e-mails were discovered when the two foreign-owned firms happened to merge and the new principles raised the flag.

But insider dealing is the least of Buontempo's woes, as the criminal charges being brought against him by Inspector Angelo Gafa' from the Police Economic Crimes Unit are structured around a scam which was thoroughly investigated by the police and the Health Ministry last year.

It emerged from the investigation that Buontempo had allegedly swindled vulnerable patients out of thousands of euros by charging patients for a specialised therapy which was not provided by the state.

Buontempo - who was originally employed on a part-time basis as a labelling clerk and later as a full-time salesman for medical supplies - had been visiting Mater Dei Hospital on a regular basis, and gradually set up an operational base there as a pseudo medical consultant who even administered VAC therapy to speed up the healing of deep wounds, charging the patients for the use of the equipment he was meant to sell.

A report published last year by the Health Ministry following an internal investigation discovered that Buontempo had allegedly charged patients up to €1,000 for VAC therapy.

The case had come to light after a patient had turned up with an invoice expecting to be reimbursed for the VAC therapy - a technique also known as negative pressure wound therapy - which he received at Mater Dei.

The hospital had started providing this therapy on a trial period but stopped because it was still being tested and complications arose in the tendering process for its provision, when it was discovered that Buontempo had been supplying a competing company with bid prices.

Buontempo had become so regular in hospital that he used to enjoy being called "dottore" and even told another nurse that he was also a CID forensic officer, a role which exempted him from using a seatbelt when he drove her to her car after visiting a patient at home.

Noel Abela, an Infection Control Nurse, said that another nurse identified as Leonard Schembri had brought Buontempo to him, insisting he be given infection control injections which are normally given to hospital staff. He was administered three shots.

Leonard Schembri had even told the hospital administration that Buontempo was an "important, indispensible person" and even vouched for him.

Under that pretext, an administration clerk had issued Buontempo with a consultants' access card, which he used for some months, which included free parking in the hospital's car park.

But the card was later blocked after Buontempo repeatedly didn't answer her calls when she chased him to produce references and certification to justify his consultant claim.

Buontempo's previous colleagues told MaltaToday how he had organised an outing for them on his 50-foot yacht, and even took them to the Ta' Xbiex Marina. "When we got there, there was no yacht, and he called somebody on the phone and returned to tell us that he forgot his brother had taken the boat for a day... obviously there never was any boat," she said.