Bogus doctor told to pay NHS more than £400,000 or face longer jail term

A bogus psychiatrist has been ordered to pay back the NHS more than £400,000 or face two-and-a-half more years in prison.

Zholia Alemi, 62, was jailed in February 2023 for seven years after she committed a string of fraud offences.

Alemi claimed to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand but a jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty of forging the degree certificate and letter of verification she used to register with the General Medical Council in 1995.

She moved around the country to different posts for more than 20 years to ensure “the finger of suspicion” did not point at her, the court heard.

Alemi, from Burnley, Lancashire, worked “more or less continuously” for NHS trusts and private providers across the UK in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, earning an estimated £1.3 million.

This week a judge ordered her to pay £406,624 in compensation to the NHS or face more time in custody.

Adrian Foster, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We have robustly pursued the proceeds of crime with the NHS Counter Fraud Authority and have identified all the assets that she has available to pay her order.

“Alemi had little regard for patient welfare. She used forged New Zealand medical qualifications to obtain employment as an NHS psychiatrist for 20 years. In doing so, she must have treated hundreds of patients when she was unqualified to do so, potentially putting those patients at risk.

“Her fraudulent actions also enabled her to dishonestly earn income and benefits more than £1 million, to which she was not entitled. She cheated the public purse and £406,624 will be paid in compensation to the NHS.”

Alemi was convicted at Carlisle Crown Court in 2018 for three fraud offences and a count of theft after trying to forge the will and powers of attorney of an elderly patient.

Following her conviction, journalist Phil Coleman, chief reporter for Cumbrian Newspapers, made inquiries into Alemi’s background and found she had never completed her qualification, the court was told.

His inquiries led to Cumbria Police further probing Alemi’s background.

Alemi was born in Iran but in the early 1990s was in Auckland, where she failed to complete the bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery degree required to practise as a doctor and was refused permission to resit.