The Indian Panorama

Tag: Indian descent

  • Indian-origin woman in Singapore attacked for not wearing a mask

    Indian-origin woman in Singapore attacked for not wearing a mask

    SINGAPORE (TIP): Almost two years after a man allegedly kicked her in the chest and hurled racial slurs at her, Indian-origin woman Hindocha Nita Vishnubhai said she had not been able to overcome the trauma caused by the incident in Chua Chu Kang housing estate on May 7, 2021.

    The 57-year-old was speaking in a district court on Wednesday, January 18, the first day of the trial of the accused, Wong Xing Fong, now aged 32. Wong has denied the allegations against him.

    According to court documents, Wong is accused of hurling racial slurs at Hindocha with the deliberate intention of “wounding” her “racial feelings”. He is also accused of voluntarily causing hurt by kicking Hindocha’s chest in an attack aggravated by the racial element.

    On Wednesday, Hindocha was called as the prosecution’s first witness, but she broke down as she walked into the courtroom, according to a media report.

    It was not clear if she cried on seeing Wong but District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan stood the case down temporarily to allow time for her to compose herself and for a screen to be set up that shielded her from view, the report stated. As the trial resumed about 30 minutes later, Hindocha took the stand to tell the court what happened on the day of the attack.

    Hindocha said she typically brisk walks to work as she does not have the time to do any other form of exercise before work and had pulled down her face mask to the chin to breathe more freely.

    At the time, Singapore’s covid-19 regulations mandated that everyone keep their face masks on unless they were exercising. As Hindocha was approaching a bus stop beside the Northvale Condominium located along Choa Chu Kang Drive, she heard someone shouting at her from behind, she told the court.

    She turned around to see “a couple”, Wong and an unnamed woman, gesturing at her and telling her to mask up. She gestured back to indicate that she was exercising and perspiring. At this point, Wong walked towards her and hurled the racial slur at her, Hindocha claimed. “I don’t like to fight, sir, so I said, ‘God bless you’,” she said, adding that then Wong ran towards her and gave her a “flying kick” in the chest.

    The impact, said Hindocha, caused her to fall on her back, leaving her left forearm and palm bleeding.

    She alleged that Wong and his female companion then “jogged” away as though nothing had happened.

    “I was crying very loudly, sir. I was very scared. Till today, (if) you bring me (to) that road I will cry…I was very scared,” she said. A woman at the bus stop helped her up and gave her a first-aid plaster for her injuries, she said.

    Hindocha said she narrated her ordeal to her husband and manager at work and reported the incident to the police only later that evening after she had finished her second job as an English tutor at a tuition center. She had her injuries examined by a doctor at a polyclinic on May 10.

    When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Foo how the incident had affected her, Hindocha said she felt both scared and sad. Wong’s lawyer told Hindocha that it was his client’s position that she was not exercising and had no reason to pull her mask down.

    He added that Wong had not used vulgarities against her and had also not kicked her in the chest.

    Wong also claimed that Hindocha spat at him and told him sarcastically that she was brisk-walking and that he should mind his own business. Hindocha disagreed with all these statements.

    During re-examination by DPP Foo, Hindocha said that while she had difficulty remembering the precise location of the attack, she clearly remembers Wong kicking her.

    The second witness was the doctor who attended Hindocha.

    The trial will continue Thursday and Friday before being adjourned until early February.

    Anyone found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to SGD 5,000 or both. However, in cases where the offence is racially or religiously aggravated, the court may sentence the person to 1.5 times the amount of punishment to which he or she would otherwise have been liable.

    As for those found guilty of deliberately intending to wound the religious or racial feelings of any person, they can be jailed for up to three years or fined or both.

  • Indian-origin entrepreneur Manish Tiwari conferred Freedom of the City of London Honor

    Indian-origin entrepreneur Manish Tiwari conferred Freedom of the City of London Honor

    LONDON (TIP): A British-Indian entrepreneur and founder of an ethnic minority-focused marketing agency has been conferred the Freedom of the City of London honor for his contributions to the financial hub of the UK capital. Manish Tiwari, founder of Here and Now 365, read the “Declaration of a Freeman” and signed the Freeman’s Declaration Book recently, when he was presented with the Copy of the Freedom—a parchment document inscribed by a calligrapher, along with a copy of the “Rules for the Conduct of Life” which date from the mid-eighteenth century. The honor is steeped in history and traditionally the recognition gave a “Freeman” the right to trade in the Square Mile or financial heart of London.

    “On the strength of its multi-cultural legacy, the City of London continues to grow and prosper. It remains at the forefront of global finance by leveraging its past and embracing change and I am honored to be a part of this legacy,” said Tiwari. As one of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies of the British capital still in existence today, the tradition of conferring the title is believed to have started in 1237. The title of Freeman is more symbolic today and comes with certain corresponding duties associated with the Lord Mayor’s office.

    A previous Indian recipient of the honor is Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and other prominent recipients include South African leader Nelson Mandela and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

    Tiwari became the latest to join the ranks at a solemn admission ceremony at the Chamberlain’s Court in the iconic Guildhall in London earlier this month.

  • Indian American Dr Nirav D. Shah appointed Principal deputy Director at US CDC

    Indian American Dr Nirav D. Shah appointed Principal deputy Director at US CDC

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Indian American doctor Nirav D. Shah, who played a pivotal role during Covid-19 pandemic, has been appointed Principal Deputy Director at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC). Shah, 45, who serves as the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), will report to US CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in his new role starting March.

    “In my new role, I will be honored to serve not just Maine, but the entire nation and carry forward the good work that we have done here. As I prepare for this next step, I thank the people of Maine for taking care of me, as I’ve always asked them to take care of each other,” he said in a statement. Shah was appointed to Maine CDC in 2019 with the mission of rebuilding the agency and the State’s public health infrastructure.

    “Dr Shah has been a trusted advisor to me and an extraordinary leader of the Maine CDC. But even more than that, he was a trusted advisor and a leader to the people of Maine during one of the greatest public health crises of our time,” Maine Governor Janet Mills wrote in a tweet.

    She added in her statement that Shah spoke calmly and directly to the people of Maine, many of whom were scared and uncertain, and answered their questions with “compassion, empathy, humor, and a clarity”.

    Shah’s appointment as Principal Deputy Director comes as part of a planned, broader overhaul of that agency announced by the US CDC Director in August of last year. Born to Indian immigrants, Shah grew up in Wisconsin, and attended the University of Louisville where he majored in psychology and biology.

    He studied economics at Oxford University and enrolled in medical school at the University of Chicago in 2000. Shah completed his Juris Doctor in 2007 and his Doctor of Medicine in 2008 -both from the University of Chicago and was a recipient of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

  • Indian American attorney Janani Ramachandran becomes first LGBTQ woman of color to take oath as US City Council member

    Indian American attorney Janani Ramachandran becomes first LGBTQ woman of color to take oath as US City Council member

    OAKLAND, CA (TIP): Janani Ramachandran, a 30-year-old Indian American attorney, has emerged as the youngest and the first  woman of color to take oath as the Oakland City Council member in the US state of California.

    Ramachandran took the ceremonial oath wearing a saree as the Oakland City Council member for District 4 in an inauguration ceremony held on January 10.

    and helped build our movement. Honored to have my loved ones by my side as I took the ceremonial oath!” Ramachandran describes herself as “a daughter of immigrants from a small village in South India.

    Ramachandran currently serves on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs and has previously served as a Commissioner at the City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission, according to her website. The Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley pass-out has worked in several legal non-profits. As a first-time candidate in her 2021 run for State Assembly, she shocked political experts by advancing to the special election runoff, coming out on top amongst a field of previously elected officials, her website said.

  • Indian American attorney Harmeet Dhillon alleges bigoted attacks owing to her Sikh faith

    Indian American attorney Harmeet Dhillon alleges bigoted attacks owing to her Sikh faith

    SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): Amid a tight race for Republican Party leadership, Indian American attorney Harmeet Dhillon, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, has alleged that she is facing bigoted attacks from some party leaders owing to her Sikh faith.

    But Dhillon, who represented Trump during the Jan 6 select committee’s probe that tried to subpoena him, has vowed that she would not drop out of the contest against current Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel, who has led the RNC since 2017.

    “To be very clear, no amount of threats to me or my team, or bigoted attacks on my faith traceable directly to associates of the chair, will deter me from advancing positive change at the RNC, which includes new standards of accountability, transparency, integrity, and decency,” she wrote in a series of tweets.

    “Threats incoming today. One of Ronna’s state chair supporters responded to my message about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy by threatening me with consequences if I didn’t make the “annoying” text messages from voters stop (no one on my team has asked anyone to text members),” she alleged.

    “Another person on my team got a threatening call from a $$$ RNC consultant for raising questions about RNC’s highest-paid vendors. Message delivered was that my supporter would never work on a certain presidential campaign or for RNC if they didn’t shut up,” Dhillon wrote.

    “It is hurtful to learn that a handful of RNC members, in a close race for RNC chair, have chosen to question my fitness to run the RNC by using my devout Sikh faith as a weapon against me,” Dhillon told media.

    The committee’s 168 members will hold a vote on Jan 27 to determine the RNC chairmanship at the committee’s annual winter meeting in Dana Point, California.

    A group of more than two dozen Republican donors threw their support behind Dhillon in a Jan 9 letter to RNC members, Fox News and The Hill have reported previously.

    Several of the individuals listed on the letter have donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party over the years, the news outlets noted.

    “We cannot continue on our current trajectory as a Republican Party,” they wrote calling for a change in leadership. “We must change, in order to fulfill our promise to Republican voters to win elections.”

    The donors warned the party “is on the verge of permanent irrelevance if we fail to come together to correct course.” The Hill described Dhillon’s campaign to oust McDanielk at the top of the party as “her toughest leadership challenge yet.” A poll released earlier this month cited by the Hill found a large majority of Republican voters backing a leadership change.

    Media suggested last month that “A Dhillon candidacy would mark the most serious challenge to McDaniel to date.” Born in Chandigarh, India to a Punjabi Sikh family in 1969, Dhillon, has served as chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association and as a former chair of the San Francisco Republican Party.  

  • Three Indian Americans among 2023 Presidential Leadership Scholars Program

    Three Indian Americans among 2023 Presidential Leadership Scholars Program

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Three Indian Americans, Anahita Dua, Sonia Singhvi, and Neil Vora are among this year’s 60 Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program serving as a catalyst for a diverse network of established leaders. The eighth annual PLS class comprises accomplished leaders including service members, educators, physicians, public servants, and corporate professionals, the program announced Jan 12.

    A partnership among the presidential centers of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon B. Johnson, the PLS program kicks off in Washington, DC, on Jan 24.

    “Scholars were selected based on their leadership growth potential and their personal leadership projects aimed at improving civic engagement or social good by addressing a problem or need in their community, the country, or the world,” according to a PLS news release.

    Over the course of several months, Scholars will travel to each participating presidential center to learn from former presidents, key former administration officials, business and civic leaders, and leading academics, it said.

    They will study and put into practice varying leadership principles and exchange ideas to help maximize their impact in the communities they serve.

    The latest class joins an active network of more than 400 Scholars who are applying lessons learned through the program to make a difference in the United States and around the world, the release said.

    Scholars have consistently reported remarkable growth in skills, responsibilities, and opportunities for impact since the program began in 2015, it said.

    For example, 94% of Scholars said their confidence in how they lead social change has improved as a result of PLS, and 98% of Scholars reported they are inspired to accomplish more since beginning the program.

    2023 Indian American scholars

    Anahita Dua, Associate Professor of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Newton, Massachusetts.

    She completed her vascular surgery fellowship at Stanford University Hospital, and her general surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

    At Massachusetts General Hospital, she is the director of the Vascular Lab, and co-director of the Peripheral Artery Disease Center and Limb Evaluation and Amputation Program.

    Last August, the 39-year-old Newton resident, a mother to two young children, took the plunge into politics, forming the Healthcare for Action PAC, “a federal political action committee that aims to elect Democratic health care workers to Congress,” as reported by the Commonwealth.

    She told the media she started the PAC because of personal experiences she had with her patients and her 5-year-old daughter. “What I’m noticing is in each realm I’m not able to do what I want to do to protect these people, whether my patients or my daughter,” she said.

    Sonia Singhvi, Global Head of Culture, Inclusion, & Diversity at the Boston-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals. A strategic, patient-centric, biopharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of industry experience across multiple therapeutic and functional areas, Singhvi joined the company and rose through the ranks, according to her LinkedIn profile. Singhvi says she’s “excited” to be accepted into the 2023 Presidential Leadership Scholars Program. “PLS serves as a catalyst for a diverse network of leaders to collaborate and create meaningful change in the United States and around the world as they learn from former US Presidents and their administrations.”

    “I will leverage these insights to advance health equity, improve patient outcomes, and enhance diversity in clinical trials,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post.

    Neil Vora, a physician with the New York-based Conservation International where he leads its efforts on pandemic prevention.

    “Throughout his career, he has focused on the link between human health and the health of the planet – particularly as it relates to the increasing threat of ‘spillover’ of viruses from animals to humans because of the destruction of nature,” according to his Conservation International profile.

    He served for nearly a decade with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer and a Commander in the US Public Health Service (USPHS).

    He deployed for CDC to Liberia in 2014 and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019 to assist in the responses to the two largest Ebola outbreaks ever.

    He previously led the investigation of a newly discovered virus in the country of Georgia related to the smallpox virus. For his work, he has received numerous accolades including the USPHS Physician Researcher of the Year Award, CDC James H. Steele Veterinary Public Health Award, CDC Donald C. Mackel Memorial Award, and CDC Alexander D. Langmuir Prize Manuscript Award.

    From 2020-2021, Vora developed and led New York City’s Covid-19 contact tracing program, overseeing a team of over 3,000 people. His program traced more than half a million people who had contracted the virus. He still sees patients in a public tuberculosis clinic in New York City.

    He has published over 60 articles in various medical journals. He’s an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Columbia University, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

    He completed medical school at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2009 and his Internal Medicine training at Columbia University in 2012.

  • Indian-origin Ranj Pillai elected and will take oath as premier of Canada’s Yukon province

    Indian-origin Ranj Pillai elected and will take oath as premier of Canada’s Yukon province

    WHITEHORSE (TIP): Indian-origin cabinet minister Ranj Pillai is set to be sworn in as the tenth Premier of the Canadian province of Yukon. He will be the second Premier of Indian descent to take oath after Ujjal Dosanjh who became the Premier of Canada’s British Columbia province between 2000 and 2001.

    A deputy in Premier Sandy Silver’s government, Pillai was elected as the leader of the Yukon Liberal Party unopposed. “I am honored and humbled to be acclaimed as the leader of the Yukon Liberal Party. We have so much to be proud of and I’m very excited for what the future of the Yukon holds,” Pillai said in his campaign statement. “I am committed to working hard, seeking common ground, acting strategically and to fiercely defending the interests of the Yukon. I look forward to serving all Yukoners as our dedicated team continues to make this territory one of the best places to call home,” he added.

    Pillai, who hails from Kerala, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as MLA for Porter Creek South in November 2016 and was inducted into the Cabinet as Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, and Economic Development.

  • Indian-origin businessman’s gas station attacked in New Zealand

    Indian-origin businessman’s gas station attacked in New Zealand

    AUCKLAND (TIP): A gas station owned by an Indian-origin businessman was attacked by unknown assailants in New Zealand, a media report has said, in yet another instance of violence against small-scale businesses in the country. The gas station on Kaurilands Road owned by Kanna Sharma in Auckland was ram-raided by robbers in the early hours on Thursday, a police statement said. Around 2.20 am, the store was rammed through the front door at least three times, shattering the glass and damaging the front grille, media reported. The thieves stole cigarettes, vapes, and many other products from Sharma’s shop, the report said. Sharma said it’s the third such attack on his business, it said. “It’s a nightmare,” Sharma told the media.

    “This is the third time I’ve been ram-raided, and I’m shattered. My family is shattered. It’s hard to believe a place like New Zealand can be such a nightmare,” he added.

    New Zealand has seen an uptick in the cases of violence against small-scale businesses in recent times. A 34-year-old Indian-origin dairy shop worker, Janak Patel, was murdered in Sandringham in November last year.

  • Indian American space expert AC Charania named NASA’s new chief technologist

    Indian American space expert AC Charania named NASA’s new chief technologist

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): An Indian American aerospace industry expert has been appointed as NASA’s new chief technologist to serve as principal advisor to Administrator Bill Nelson on technology policy and programs at the space agency’s headquarters here.

    In his position, AC Charania will align NASA’s agencywide technology investments with mission needs across six mission directorates and oversee technology collaboration with other federal agencies, the private sector, and external stakeholders, NASA said in a statement on Monday.

    The position works within NASA’s Office for Technology, Policy, and Strategy.

    “Technology plays a vital role in every NASA mission. Making sure that we’re pursuing the best policy objectives allows this agency to continue to serve as a global leader in innovation,” Bhavya Lal, NASA associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy, was quoted as saying in the statement.

    “Charania is an experienced leader in managing large, rapidly shifting technology portfolios. I am eager for him to apply his knowledge and enthusiasm at NASA,” Lal said. Lal served as acting chief technologist prior to the appointment of Charania, whose first day working at NASA Headquarters was January 3.

    “The rate of advancement we seek in the 21st century is dependent upon selecting and maturing a portfolio of technologies into systems to execute our missions,” Charania said in the statement.

    “With this in mind, there are incredible opportunities in partnerships within and outside of NASA. I now look forward to the opportunity to work with the entire community to increase the rate of space and aviation progress,” he added. Prior to joining NASA, he served as vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics, a firm that works to bring certified autonomous vehicles to commercial aviation.

    His previous experience also includes working at Blue Origin to mature its lunar permanence strategy, Blue Moon lunar lander program, and multiple technology initiatives with NASA.

    Charania has also worked in strategy and business development for the Virgin Galactic (now Virgin Orbit) LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle program. Charania led the formation of the Fast Forward industry group focused on high-speed point-to-point transportation, was a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, and served on the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Commercial Advisory Board, according to the release. He received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s in economics from Emory University.

  • Indian American man stabs nine-year-old son to death

    Indian American man stabs nine-year-old son to death

    MCKINNEY, TX (TIP): An Indian American man in Texas faces capital murder charges for allegedly stabbing his nine-year-old son to death, police said. Subramanian Ponnazhakan, 39, of McKinney, is in police custody at a hospital for “self-inflicted wounds” and his bail has been set at $1 million, the McKinney Police Department said in a statement on Sunday, January 8. Police said they got a call from a neighbor last week who said that a woman had found her son “unconscious and bleeding” inside a home near Highway 380 and Custer Road. When officers entered the house “forcefully”, they found the woman’s husband in the act of inflicting self-harm with a knife. The boy, who was found with multiple stab wounds in the garage, was pronounced dead on the spot. Police said that further investigations are on in the case. “We continue to keep the child’s mother and their entire family in our thoughts and prayers during this unspeakably difficult time,” a McKinney Police Department spokeswoman said.

  • Indian American IMPACT Fund celebrates Biden’s nomination of Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State

    Indian American IMPACT Fund celebrates Biden’s nomination of Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): An Indian American body has welcomed the nomination of lawyer diplomat Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State, a top diplomatic position in the State Department.

    In December, the White House in a statement said that Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate 54-year-old Verma to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. If confirmed by the US Senate, Verma, also a former US ambassador to India, would be the highest-ranking Indian American in the State Department.

    “This nomination is yet another historic addition by President Biden in his campaign pledge to diversify the current administration,” Indian American Impact Fund said in a statement. Verma’s historic opportunity to join the State Department is the culmination of his long and illustrious career in public service.

    “We at Indian American Impact are thrilled to witness and potentially welcome the historic confirmation of yet another visionary South Asian leader,” said Neil Makhija, executive director of Indian American Impact Fund.

  • Indian -origin Manpreet Monica Singh is the first female Sikh judge to be sworn in US

    Indian -origin Manpreet Monica Singh is the first female Sikh judge to be sworn in US

    HOUSTON (TIP): Indian-origin Manpreet Monica Singh has been sworn in as a Harris County judge, becoming the first female Sikh judge in the US. Singh was born and raised in Houston and now lives in Bellaire with her husband and two children. She was sworn in as a judge of the Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 in Texas on Friday, January 6. Singh’s father immigrated to the US in the early 1970s. A trial lawyer for 20 years, she has been involved in numerous civil rights organizations at the local, state, and national levels.

    “It means a lot to me because I represent H-town (a nickname of Houston) the most, so for it to be us, I’m happy for it,” she said at the oath ceremony.

    Indian American Judge Ravi Sandill, the state’s first South Asian judge, presided over the ceremony, which took place in a packed courtroom. “It’s a really big moment for the Sikh community,” Sandill said.

    “When they see someone of color, someone a little different, they know that possibility is available to them. Manpreet is not only an ambassador for Sikhs, but she’s an ambassador for all women of color,” he said.

    There are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs in the US, with 20,000 Sikhs living in the Houston area.

    Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said: “It was a proud day for the Sikh Community, but also a proud day for all people of Color who see the Diversity of the City of Houston in the Diversity of the Court”.

  • Indian American doctor Aarti D. Pandya pays $1,850,000 for violating the False Claims Act

    Indian American doctor Aarti D. Pandya pays $1,850,000 for violating the False Claims Act

    ATLANTA (TIP): An Indian American doctor has agreed to pay approximately $1,850,000 for allegedly billing the government for cataract surgeries and diagnostic tests that were not medically required.

    Aarti D. Pandya and her Pandya Practice Group violated the False Claims Act by also performing and billing for tests that were incomplete or of worthless value, and office visits that did not provide the level of service claimed.

    “Physicians who perform procedures and tests without a legitimate medical need place profits ahead of patients and subject those patients to unnecessary risk,” told US Attorney Ryan K Buchanan in a statement released on Monday. “This settlement represents our office’s commitment to ensuring accountability for physicians who subject patients to unwarranted medical care and waste taxpayer funds,” Buchanan said.

    From January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2016, Pandya knowingly submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary cataract extraction surgeries and YAG laser capsulotomies, according to a Justice Department release.

    The prosecution alleged that Pandya performed these procedures on patients that did not qualify for the procedure under accepted standards of medical practice and, in some cases, caused injury to her patients.

    Additionally, it accused Pandya of falsely diagnosing patients with glaucoma to justify unnecessary diagnostic testing and treatment that was billed to Medicare.

    The prosecution also said that many of the diagnostic tests that Pandya ordered were not properly performed, were performed on a broken machine, or were not interpreted in the medical record, as required by Medicare.

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) imposed in 2019 a payment suspension on the Pandya Practice Group that precluded it from receiving any reimbursement from Medicare for Part B claims.

    As part of the settlement of the government’s claims in this case, the Pandya Practice Group agreed to forfeit the suspension amount to the government. The payment suspension will also be lifted as part of the settlement.

    To protect federal healthcare programs and beneficiaries going forward, Pandya and the Pandya Practice Group have entered into a detailed, multi-year Integrity Agreement and Conditional Exclusion Release (IA) with the Office of Inspector General. “We must assure patients and taxpayers that healthcare is dictated by clinical needs, not fiscal greed,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “This settlement should serve as a reminder that the FBI will not tolerate healthcare providers who engage in schemes that defraud the industry and put innocent patients at risk.”