Police execute search warrants in veteran report fraud investigation

Australian Federal Police have executed four search warrants as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged fraud targeting the veteran support system.

Dozens of AFP officers simultaneously searched the home of The Rosemary Centre owner Josh Tinning in Queensland and three other locations linked to the business in NSW on Wednesday morning.

Sixty state and federal police officers, as well as staff from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), were involved as part of an ongoing investigation into medical reports provided by the company.

Digital forensics experts will now examine evidence seized as part of the investigation, dubbed Operation Evergreen.

The Rosemary Centre opened in 2024 and provided medical and psychiatric assessments for veterans to submit as evidence for compensation payouts from DVA.

DVA began auditing reports from the company last year over allegations that some were inaccurate or had been improperly altered. The centre had around 6,000 clients at the time.

The integrity of medical reports is critical as they provide the evidence relied upon by the government to determine compensation claims paid to veterans, which can total hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Four Corners understands the search is part of an ongoing AFP Fraud Fusion Taskforce investigation into multiple companies over allegedly fraudulent reports paid for by the department.

DVA referred six matters to the AFP last financial year after it received a record 1,488 integrity and fraud-related tip-offs.

The average number of integrity and fraud tip-offs DVA receives every month has more than doubled since March.

Last week, a Four Corners investigation into the alleged widespread rorting of the DVA system by some providers found multiple for-profit companies were charging DVA huge fees, and some were providing substandard services to veterans or putting them at risk of harm.

One veteran interviewed for the program said he was told his Rosemary Centre report was under investigation after a doctor assessed his physical condition over the phone without being able to see or examine him in person.

At the time, Mr Tinning's lawyers told Four Corners that assessment procedures were a matter for doctors, not the company.

When asked about allegations that medical reports had been altered, Mr Tinning's lawyers said nurses employed by The Rosemary Centre were responsible for checking the accuracy of the data entered into medical reports before they were lodged.

"To that end reports were from time to time 'altered' but those alterations were only ever administrative in nature and Mr Tinning rejects any suggestion whatsoever that the medical reports submitted on behalf of veterans were anything other than completely integrous."

Mr Tinning was working as an advocate, taking a cut of the claims paid out to veterans, at the same time as he owned the company that paid doctors to write reports supporting those claims.

No regulations are preventing this, but lawyers for Mr Tinning told Four Corners "that [clients] should have been made aware that it was at the least a perceived conflict that ought to have been declared".

"Mr Tinning and Rosemary Centre were at all times acting consistently together for the benefit of veterans," his lawyers said.

In June this year Josh Tinning, a veteran himself, began posting a series of videos to social media under an account called "DVA exposed". In the videos, Mr Tinning defended himself and alleged government conspiracies.

In one, he revealed he had tried to create a new company called Veteran Health & Medical Centre to continue billing DVA while the investigation into The Rosemary Centre was underway.

He also claimed he had been stopped by Border Force when re-entering Australia and had his devices confiscated.

DVA limits medical report fees

DVA paid nearly $200 million for compensation reports and paid out a record $10 billion in compensation to veterans last year.

The department's deputy secretary Andrew Kefford told a parliamentary committee hearing last month that a small number of medical report providers had been charging DVA huge sums, with 19 providers charging around 10 times the average payment for reports.

The department was paying tens of thousands of dollars for some reports. One 13-page report a psychiatrist submitted cost $50,000.

Earlier this year the department announced that it had introduced limits on what it would pay for medical reports.

The Rosemary Centre has commenced legal action against DVA to recover $5.5 million, which the company says it owed doctors for medical reports that they had prepared for veterans.

In a statement, a DVA spokesperson said the department is focused on ensuring the integrity of the veteran support system to ensure veterans are properly supported and looked after.

"Where there is evidence of fraud, deliberate non-compliance or conduct that puts veterans at risk, DVA will work with law enforcement and regulatory agencies to take appropriate action," the spokesperson said.

"It is not appropriate to comment further as the matter remains an active investigation."