A "bogus" psychiatrist spent two decades working for the country's National Health Service - earning more than $1 million - after forging her qualifications, a court heard.
Zholia Alemi, described as a "most accomplished forger and fraudster", is alleged to have fooled the General Medical Council (GMC) into granting her registration as a doctor and then worked for various health trusts across the U.K.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Iranian-born Alemi, believed to be 60, claims to have obtained her doctor’s qualification from the University of Auckland in 1992.
However, it is alleged she never actually passed the six-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor or Surgery (MBChB) course and failed her exams before coming to the U.K. three years later.
Christopher Stables, a prosecutor, said, "In a nutshell, the prosecution case against this defendant is that, for a period of approximately 20 years, she held herself out and practiced as a doctor, a doctor of medicine, when, in truth, she had never passed or achieved the relevant university qualification and was not a properly qualified doctor at all."
He explained, "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."
Stables said Alemi used deception and fraud to obtain employment and a "conservative estimate" of the money she fraudulently obtained was the U.S. equivalent of between $1.2 million and $1.5 million.
The court heard police had raided one of her properties in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 2019 and discovered a "forger’s kit."
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.
The court heard that Alemi became a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2003, passing part one of their exams after four attempts and part two after three attempts.
However, 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.aining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument.
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