Sydney, Nov 17 (IANS) The trial of Indian-origin doctor Jayant Patel on charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence and fraud has cost close to $3.3 million to Australian taxpayers.
Documents from the Queensland’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions show that the government has spent AUD 3,508,792 to pursue the range of charges against Patel from July 2006 until June 30, 2013, the Brisbane Times reported.
The expenditure includes AUD 40,875 in living expenses, AUD 54,416 on hotel accommodation, AUD 22,417.63 in subsistence allowances, AUD 1,606.94 on phone calls, AUD 3,510.75 on electricity, AUD 2,327.20 in dental and medical expenses, AUD 162.74 for passport, and AUD 2,534,821 in judicial staff expenses.
The jury expenses in 2013 were AUD 64,936 and AUD 130,612 in 2010.
Tony Moynihan, Queensland’s director of public prosecutions, Nov 15 decided not to proceed with the remaining criminal negligence charges against Patel.
Patel spent more than two years in prison after being convicted in June 2010 of four charges.
He was found guilty of charges for unlawfully killing a patient and causing grievous bodily harm to another patient.
The Supreme Court of Brisbane, however, found Patel not guilty of criminal negligence in the first of the retrials in March 13, 2013.
The Indian-origin doctor Nov 15 pleaded guilty to four fraud charges, linked to his registration as a doctor in Queensland and will be sentenced Nov 21.
Tony Moynihan Friday said continuing with Patel’s trial was not in the public interest.
Gujarat-born Jayant Patel had a controversial tenure in the Bundaberg Base Hospital in Australia from 2003 to early 2005, during which over 80 deaths were linked to him and 30 patients died under his care.
After that, he left for Portland, Oregon, in the US. He was, however, extradited to Australia in 2008 to face trial.