'Fake' doctor earned £1m in two decades after 'tricking NHS with false degrees'
A “fraudster” posed as a qualified doctor and was paid more than £1 million by the NHS after forging a degree certificate, prosecutors allege.
Zholia Alemi, who is believed to be 60, is alleged to have forged the document and handed it to the General Medical Council, based in Manchester, in 1995, along with a forged letter of verification.
Ms Alemi is accused of two offences of forgery; two offences of using a false instrument; three offences of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception; and 13 offences of fraud by false representation. She denied all 20 offences and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Christopher Stables, prosecuting, said that over a period of about 20 years, she ‘held herself out and practised as a doctor of medicine’, though she had never passed or achieved the relevant university qualification and was not a properly qualified doctor.
“She is, say the prosecution, a most accomplished forger and fraudster, but has no qualification that would allow her to be called, or in any way to be properly regarded as, a doctor,” Mr Stables said.
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Ms Alemi is accused of two offences of forgery; two offences of using a false instrument; three offences of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception; and 13 offences of fraud by false representation (SWNS.com)
Ms Alemi is alleged to have applied for registration to be a doctor in the UK using the ‘Commonwealth Route’ through the GMC using these falsified documents (News and Star / SWNS.com)The court heard of two documents that Ms Alemi is alleged to have falsified: namely a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Auckland, more commonly abbreviated to MBChB dated 1992; and a letter of verification written by the Faculty Registrar at the university, based in New Zealand.
Ms Alemi is alleged to have applied for registration to be a doctor in the UK using the ‘Commonwealth Route’ through the GMC, using these falsified documents and then obtaining work either through the NHS, or through recruitment agencies, in various positions ranging from locum positions to permanent posts.
“As you will see, the defendant has held posts and has been paid as a doctor by health trusts and authorities across the length and breadth of the country,” the prosecutor said.
“A conservative estimate as to the total amount, in terms of the money fraudulently obtained by the defendant from the NHS, is somewhere between £1 million and £1.3 million.”
He said Alemi was born in Tehran, Iran, but records showed she presented in New Zealand in 1986 and a year later married, giving her occupation as nurse.
By 1995, the court heard, she was living in the UK at an address in Winchester, Hampshire.
Zholia Alemi, who is believed to be 60, is alleged to have forged the document and handed it to the General Medical Council (MEN MEDIA)The court heard that the basic medical qualification and degree that all doctors must hold is ‘Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery’ (MBChB), and without it, practitioners cannot legitimately advance further or be regarded as a doctor.
It requires successfully completing six years of study and all relevant exams to be passed before the qualification is rewarded.
According to official documentation from the university, Ms Alemi had enrolled in 1988 and completed her Bachelor of Human Biology, regarded as the first part of the course, in May 1992.
She later enrolled on the MBChB and passed the first year, but failed the second and due to her performance, was not allowed to repeat the year, or complete the course, prosecutors alleged.
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This meant that she was never awarded the degree, never graduated as a doctor, and why she had allegedly forged the degree certificate, prosecutors claimed.
Mr Stables added: “The genuine degree certificate for the Bachelor of Human Biology degree is the basis for the forgery for the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree.
According to official documentation from the university, Ms Alemi had enrolled in 1988 and completed her Bachelor of Human Biology, regarded as the first part of the course, in May 1992 (MEN MEDIA)“The certificate says that she graduated in May 1992. In truth, in May 1992, she had only been on the three-year course for two months of the first year. She decided to achieve by forgery what she had failed to achieve by academic study.”
In regards to the letter of verification, there were a number of spelling errors including the author being the ‘Faculty Regitrar’, who wrote to ‘varify’ she had completed six years of training with ‘satisfactory grade’.
The author had moved to a different post at the time when the document was created, the court heard.
Mr Stables said police searched a home owned by Alemi in Omagh, Northern Ireland, and discovered a briefcase in an understairs cupboard containing part of a “forger’s kit”, including dry transfer letters and documents which he suggested were practice versions of a forged certificate.
Ms Alemi denies all 20 offences and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court (MEN Media)Ms Alemi later went on to work as a psychiatrist and was admitted to the Royal College of Psychiatrists after passing the relevant exams.
Prosecutors said her membership was ‘entirely bogus’ as a candidate must hold the appropriate medical qualification, namely the MBChB.
“In reality, this defendant was at all times posing as a psychiatrist despite not having a medical degree” Mr Stables concluded.
In November 2018, the GMC withdrew her license to practice as a doctor, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists terminated her membership within days of the alleged forgeries coming to light, it was said.
The jury were told that Ms Alemi’s case was that she was appropriately qualified at all times and the documents demonstrating her qualifications were genuine.
Ms Alemi, of Plumbe Street, Burnley, Lancashire, denies offences of fraud, forgery, using a false instrument and obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception. The trial is estimated to last around five weeks.
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