On Saturday Helsinki District Court also allowed the seizure of Esa Laiho’s EUR 600,000 property so a search can be carried out.

The so-called pseudo doctor, who is suspected of aggravated forgery and aggravated fraud, has worked in geriatric care all across the country over the past decade. He could face up to four years behind bars if he is found guilty of the charges.

Laiho, who made no attempt to cover his face as he entered the court room, claims he studied at Ross University in the USA and received qualification papers from St Petersburg. Police inspector Hannu Mannikko, however, says the papers must be forged as doctors are not allowed to practice after just a few years of education.

The 50 year-old physician, who specialises in treating people with eating disorders at Rigshospitalet in Osterbro, has told a court that the methodology used on at least five women was part of his ‘alternative treatment’.

“Anorexic patients, generally speaking, have a hard time accepting how they look naked. That’s why I took a number of photographs of genitalia to get them adjusted to seeing them,” he said, according to metroXpress newspaper.

Talking about how he made one patient use a sex toy in front of him, the doctor told the court, “It was to help her. She was having a hard time with her sexuality and with her genitalia. It was to get her to feel better about her body.”

Police found more than 600 nude photographs on the doctor’s computer, which he claims were either already on the hard drive when he salvaged the machine from the street, or that they were deposited there by a virus without his knowledge. He also tried to discredit one of the girls who testified against him, claiming: “She’s saying it to get attention. She has previously cut herself as a form of self-abuse.”

Three of the patients claim they were forced to sign contracts allowing the doctor to take naked pictures of them. According to metroXpress, one girl told the court, “I just wanted to be healthy so I did what he said.”

The 50 year-old denies sexual abuse and the case is ongoing.

The Western Uusimaa District Court handed down a sentence of 18 months in prison to the man on Wednesday 29th September.

The fraudster posed as a doctor at a Karkkila clinic for around a year without ever being discovered, before continuing his ruse for about two months at a surgery in Karjaa. According to officials, he treated around 1,000 patients and wrote hundreds of prescriptions.

Despite his apparent lack of expertise, police say that there is no evidence that anyone was injured under the phony practitioner’s care. It is not the first time, however, that someone has be caught posing as a doctor in Finland.

In response to this most recent case, Finland’s National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (VALVIRA) has this month opened up a register of medical professionals. Members of the public will now be able to check the credentials of anyone claiming to be a doctor or a nurse.

Only one of the men that the doctor had sex with has been diagnosed with HIV, and the defence argued that it was possible he was infected by somebody else, according The Local.

The doctor was also facing a further charge of aggravated assault and an alternative charge relating to causing the infection. These charges were, however, dismissed by the court as it could not be proved who was responsible for the spread of the deadly disease.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer representing the two men, said in a statement to news agency TT that the ruling will be appealed. “The prosecutor and I agreed that we would appeal if any of the charges were to be dismissed,” she said.

Ms Massi Fritz added that she was disappointed, but not surprised, that the additional charges had been dropped. “There can be no other person that has infected my client,” she said. “But we have to obtain a supplementary investigation to prove this.”

The court concluded that, as a doctor, the accused should have been aware of the rules of conduct of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI). The judge also said that the practitioner’s actions should be considered as especially serious as he had threatened the lives of his sexual partners.

The man pretended to be a physician at the Karkkila Health Centre where he claimed he was a ward doctor. Police investigations revealed that the man has no medical training at all, but rather had forged his way into the position through fraudulent medical certificates in order to gain access to the Karkkila facility. He later continued the scam at an additional health centre in Karjaa.

YLE reports that police arrested the man last week on charges of unauthorised practice in the health care profession along with fraud and aggravated forgery. Whether he will be remanded into custody will be decided later this week.

The police inquiry was requested at the Vihti station some two weeks ago after suspicions were aroused by medical staff. Authorities have declared, however, that as he was under the constant supervision of a senior medical officer, the man posed no real threat or danger to his patients.

According to Pirjo Pennanen, medical advisor with VALVIRA – the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health medical watchdog – the remarkable thing in the case was that the man’s ruse continued even after he had written prescriptions for patients. In an interview on YLE radio Pennanen explained that a central registry with unique identifiers is still in its infancy after being introduced last year.

Health workers are reviewing the fraudulent doctor’s prescriptions and contacting all of the patients who received treatment.

The man, who claims to be a naturopath, had been allegedly treating cancer sufferers with a variety of vegetables and herbs but has never held a Swedish medical license. The quack doctor has also been accused of sexually abusing a female patient who suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

Among more notable treatments was a concoction of cabbage, mussel and basil oil which the man, in his fifties, used to treat a terminally ill cancer patient. He is under suspicion from authorities after apparently swindling an estimated SEK 500,000 from his clients, The Local reports.

“It’s incredibly cynical to milk these people for their money,” said Daniel Edsbagge, the deputy prosecutor.

The case involving the controversial cabbage cure was brought to the attention of local authorities back in 2007; the same year the woman died, but was dropped because of lack of evidence. However, an influx of complaints arose since the incident was made public earlier this year. The man was arrested under suspicion in May but released days later after a remand hearing.

Over the summer, the investigation continued with more patients of the malpractice medic being interviewed by police, which led to his house being raided. A patient registry and accounts were discovered during the raid.

The prosecution alleged that the bogus doctor chiefly preyed upon the terminally ill. The list of unwitting victims included one sexagenarian who was told her insomnia related to problems with her vagina, for which a herbal remedy was recommended. The Parkinson’s sufferer was allegedly sexually abused numerous times during her treatment for which she paid an estimated SEK 250,000.

The suspect has denied committing any offences according to his lawyer Eva Smerling Winman.