Pretoria – A bogus doctor who worked as a psychiatrist for 20 years in hospitals across England, Wales and Scotland and received almost £1.3million (over R28m) during her career, has been convicted of fraud.
The Manchester Crown Court heard that Zholia Alemi, 60, forged a medical degree certificate and practised without the necessary qualifications.
“The Guardian” reported that Alemi was found guilty of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument.
According to the publication, Judge Hilary Manley said the deception carried out against health authorities enabled Alemi to work with “potentially very vulnerable people over a long period of time”.
The judge also questioned how Alemi had been able to practise for as long as she had and in so many positions.
“The Guardian” explained that Alemi sent a forged certificate to the General Medical Council in 1995 claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She also sent a forged letter of verification referring to “six years medical trainee with satisfactory grade”, with a spelling error “varify” instead “verify”.
However, official records showed that she completed only the first stage of the degree and was stopped from re-enrolling after failing a number of years.
In a separate incident in 2018, Alemi was convicted of three fraud offences after forging an 84-year-old woman’s will to make herself the beneficiary and forging powers of attorney. She was sentenced to five years in prison in that case, “The Guardian” added in its report.
“The Guardian” said prosecutor Christopher Stables described Alemi as a most accomplished forger and fraudster who had no qualification that would allow her to be called, or in any way to be properly regarded as, a doctor.
She will be sentenced on February 28.
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