{"id":411003,"date":"2026-01-13T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411003\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:07:09","slug":"neurosurgeon-richard-laherty-among-five-charged-in-queensland-crime-and-corruption-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411003\/","title":{"rendered":"Neurosurgeon Richard Laherty among five charged in Queensland crime and corruption investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A neurosurgeon specialising in spinal surgery is among five people facing serious charges over a Queensland scheme allegedly involving kickbacks for medical devices, the ABC can reveal.<\/p>\n

The state’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) announced in December<\/a> that five people involved in the health industry were facing charges following its investigation, codenamed Barzona, with the Queensland Office of the Health Ombudsman.<\/p>\n

At the time the CCC said the charges involved allegations that representatives from a medical device company had made secret payments to public officers for use of its devices in public hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another allegation was that the public officers failed to declare conflicts of interest about these payments and their involvement in the company to Queensland Health.<\/p>\n

The ABC can reveal that among those charged is Richard William Laherty, 53, a surgeon based in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Five people involved in the health industry are facing charges following a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Dr Laherty is listed in profiles as having wide experience including being a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland’s medical school.<\/p>\n

Neurosurgery involves treating problems with the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. Dr Laherty is listed as a neurosurgeon having a specialisation in spinal surgery.<\/p>\n

“His areas of particular interest include minimal access and minimally invasive surgery for all aspects of spinal tumours, developmental, degenerative and traumatic disorders of the spine as well as maintaining his general neurosurgical practice,” one profile states.<\/p>\n

Dr Laherty declined to comment to the ABC. His matter is listed for court on Thursday for charges including official corruption and misconduct in public office between 2016 and 2019.<\/p>\n

The ABC understands the company in question has supplied devices including screws, rods and surgical implants.<\/p>\n

Dr Laherty’s name was mentioned in a Brisbane Magistrates Court sentencing in April last year when colleague Alex Koefman, also a neurosurgeon, pleaded guilty to disclosing confidential information to Dr Laherty in December 2023.<\/p>\n

The court heard the CCC was investigating an alleged scheme involving kickbacks for medical equipment.<\/p>\n

A CCC investigator had “sought out” Dr Koefman, who the court heard had “some knowledge” of the alleged scheme but was not accused of being involved.<\/p>\n

Dr Koefman then passed on information to Dr Laherty, a target of the investigation, breaching requests to keep the probe confidential, the court was told.<\/p>\n

His lawyer described that breach as being a mixture of “misguided loyalty” to a colleague and “uncharacteristic stupidity”.<\/p>\n

Dr Koefman, who is not accused of being one of the targets of the investigation and has not been charged in the latest matters, was fined $2,500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A neurosurgeon specialising in spinal surgery is among five people facing serious charges over a Queensland scheme allegedly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,217458,36619,1108,80166,134,217455,217456,217457],"class_list":["post-411003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-court","tag-brisbane-magistrates-court","tag-court","tag-crime-and-corruption-commission","tag-entertainment","tag-queensland-crime-and-corruption-commission","tag-queensland-office-of-the-health-ombudsman","tag-richard-william-laherty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}