A consultant surgeon, who is in prison for defrauding almost €750,000 from insurance
companies through a false breast cancer claim, has written to
President Mary McAleese asking that she establish an independent body for people to make
complaints against the judiciary.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune from Shelton Abbey prison in
Arklow, Co Wicklow, consultant surgeon Dr Emad Massoud claimed he was the victim of a
miscarriage of justice and has asked the president to investigate the manner in which the presiding judge handled his criminal case.

McAleese has no power to
initiate such an inquiry.

In March last year, Egyptian Massoud (52), of Woodview, Brownstown, Ratoath, Co Meath, was jailed for four years.

His wife, Gehan Massoud (45), a nurse, was also convicted for her role in the fraud and was handed down a three-year sentence by judge Patrick McCartan, which he suspended because he said he
didn't want both parents of four children to be incarcerated at the same time.

The trial heard that Gehan
Massoud's mother had sought the assistance of her daughter and son-in-law when she was
diagnosed with breast cancer in Egypt and that they then used her tissue sample for the fraud,
claiming it was taken from Gehan Massoud herself.

Massoud said through his legal counsel in court that he had removed 237 grammes of tissue, including a tumour, from his wife's breast but placed the fake name "Dr Mohamed Hilal" in the
insurance claim forms.

He said he put a different name on the insurance forms because a doctor is not permitted to carry out surgery on a family member in Ireland.

The Massouds were found guilty of defrauding €685,658 from
Scottish Provident Ltd in March 2002 and €45,338 in February 2002 from the Lifetime Assurance Company.

Massoud has maintained his innocence and said the cancerous sample provided was from his wife and was not brought from Egypt and used to defraud the insurance companies.

He claims in his letter to McAleese that the judge failed
to explain to the jury the
"physical impossibility of the alleged use of cancerous tissue from Egypt".

He also said the jury "could not understand the overwhelming
scientific evidence".

When asked why he did not request that his mother-in-law travel to the trial to give evidence in support of their claim that her cancerous tissue was not used, he told the Sunday Tribune: "I don't have a relationship with my
mother-in-law. I don't speak to
my mother-in-law."

Two weeks ago, the Court of Criminal Appeal reserved
judgment on an appeal by the
couple that their convictions are unsafe and should be set aside.