The former boss of Primary Health Care has escaped jail over his conviction for corporate wrongdoing but faces the next 12 months in “community detention”.

Peter Gregg was originally brought in to run the corporate — now known as Healius — after the death of its founder Dr Edmund Bateman.

But he was forced to step down less than two years into the role after he was accused of falsifying entries in the books of construction giant Leighton Holdings while he was chief financial officer of the company in 2011.

On Tuesday, NSW District Court judge Paul Lakatos handed down a two-year Intensive Correction Order, a custodial sentence involving intensive supervision in the community, along with community service.