Vic: Bogus cancer therapist faces jail time

AAP General News (Australia)
12-23-2007
Vic: Bogus cancer therapist faces jail time

By Greg Roberts

MELBOURNE, Dec 23 AAP - A former bogus cancer therapist is facing jail after a Melbourne
court found him guilty of criminal charges.

The Melbourne man, Paul John Rana, was found guilty by Federal Court Justice Tony North
yesterday of criminal charges relating to him failing to provide documents about his companies
to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC already successfully sued Rana earlier this year for misleading and deceptive
conduct, for cheating cancer sufferers out of tens of thousands of dollars to pay for
useless remedies he mistakenly told them could rid them of cancer.

Rana represented himself in court, telling Justice North he did not qualify for legal
aid and just wanted "to get it over with".

Rana pleaded not guilty to the more serious charges in which he - rather than his company
NuEra, which was based at Wyndham Vale west of Melbourne - was liable for not producing
the documents.

However he contradicted this by admitting guilt to ACCC prosecutor Rowena Orr when
asked if he had committed each of the offences he was charged with.

Rana tried to blame another director of the company as being responsible for the documents,
who later contradicted this as a witness, but Justice North told Rana he was liable.

"I tried to explain to you earlier what constitutes liability for an offence, you failed
to comply with the notices so now explain what you want to explain," the judge said.

Rana then blamed stress and long working hours, including a devotion to his cancer
patients, for him not providing the documents but Justice North told him that was no excuse.

"We appeared on ACA (commercial TV show A Current Affair) who went through our building,
we were in voluntary administration and I was looking after terminally ill patients,"

Rana told the court.

Rana has also been accused of harassing the families of victims who complained about
his activities - as well as legal authorities and various media agencies - by filing documents
at the court demanding payment of $294 million.

The charges attract a prison sentence of up to 12 months and Rana was remanded in custody
to be sentenced in February.

In May, Federal Court Judge Donnell Ryan ruled that Rana and his sons, Micheal and
Christopher, had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct "of the most reprehensible
kind", and that their actions constituted "consistently cynical and heartless exploitation
of cancer victims and their relatives when at their most vulnerable".

Rana and his two sons claimed a series of treatments, including vitamins, devices called
Zen-Chi massagers, fruit juice diets and others, could cure cancer.

During the Saturday hearing, Rana's son Micheal earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges,
although prosecution lawyers indicated that they would not push for a jail sentence for
Micheal.

AAP gr/ht/cat

KEYWORD: RANA

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