A doctor has been implicated in an insurance claim scam in which a Clarendon farmer allegedly conspired with his British wife and others to fake his death in order to claim a $17-million insurance payout.

The doctor, Ivor Davis, was recently arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud, following allegations that he had signed the death certificate of the other accused, Kim Wayne Phillips, who had supposedly died from a heart attack.

Davis made his first appearance in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday and his bail was extended while Phillips was remanded.

Phillips, a 45-year-old farmer of Mocho, was arrested on February 21 and charged with conspiracy to defraud, attempting to obtain money by false pretence, and making a false declaration following allegations that he, along with wife and another man, conspired to fleece Guardian Life Insurance Company of the money.

A death certificate and a burial order with the name of the doctor, who had allegedly signed the order, were presented to the insurance company.

The insurance claim application, it is further alleged, was submitted to Guardian Life last September after Phillips had supposedly suffered a heart attack and died.

The court was previously informed that, following the submission of the claim, Phillips reportedly sent a text to his wife asking: “You get the money yet?”

Yesterday when the matter was mentioned, the prosecutor told the court that the police are searching for Phillips’s wife, Lorna, and Ian Jaccas.

Meanwhile, Phillips’s lawyer Patrick Peterkin maintained that his client had nothing to do with the fraudulent plot and asked that he be admitted to bail, but his request was denied by Magistrate Maxine Ellis.

Davis’s lawyer, Donald Bryan, was absent and the case was subsequently scheduled for mention on May 8.

— Tanesha Mundle