According to testimony given in court, a “bogus” psychiatrist spent two decades working for the nation’s National Health Service and making over $1 million during that time.
As a “most accomplished forger and fraudster,” Zholia Alemi is accused of deceiving the General Medical Council (GMC) into approving her registration as a doctor. She then allegedly worked for numerous health trusts throughout the U.K.
The Iranian-born Alemi, who is thought to be 60 years old, claimed to have earned her doctorate from the University of Auckland in 1992, according to evidence presented at Manchester Crown Court.
She allegedly failed her exams and never finished the six-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor or Surgery (MBChB) program before moving to the United Kingdom three years later.
Christopher Stables, a prosecutor, stated, “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.”
According to Stables, Alemi used fraud and deceit to get a job, and a “conservative estimate” of the money she stole was between $1.2 million and $1.5 million in U.S. dollars.
Alemi initially enrolled at the university in 1988 for a Bachelor of Human Biology course, which she eventually earned after failing some of her exams in 1992, according to testimony given in court.
Alemi was never given a degree of MBChB by the University of Auckland after failing her year 2 exams and “proceeding no further,” according to Stables, who claimed that this education did not make her a doctor.
He said, “She never graduated as a doctor. And that is why she forged the degree certificate to send to the GMC with her application for registration.”
Stables said an expert witness would give evidence that items found at the house in a briefcase, which included dry transfer letters purchased from the U.K. store W.H. Smith and blank degree documents, had been used to make Alemi’s fake university certificate.
Her membership was terminated within days of her forgeries coming to light, Stables said. The GMC withdrew her license to practice as a doctor in November 2018.
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