Sheffield Health and Social Care: Bogus psychiatrist who faked certificate worked for city health trust

Zholia Alemi worked as a psychiatrist across the UK after falsely claiming to have qualified at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Manchester Crown Court heard. On Wednesday, she was told to expect a lengthy prison sentence after being 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, following a four-week trial.

The Star can now reveal that Alemi, of Plumbe Street in Burnley, worked as a locum for Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, which provides a range of mental health, learning disability and substance misuse services to people in the city.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “Zholia Alemi was employed as a locum through an agency for just over three weeks in 2011. No complaints were received, and no disciplinary action was taken against her.” The trust declined to comment further following her conviction.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Alemi had earned between £1 million and £1.3 million from the NHS after sending the forged certificate to the General Medical Council (GMC) to register to practise in 1995. She was also accused of sending a forged letter of verification, which the court heard had verify spelt as “varify” and referred to “six years medical trainee with satisfactory grade”.

The jury was told Alemi had been convicted of three fraud offences at Carlisle Crown Court in 2018 after forging a will to make herself the beneficiary and forging powers of attorney. She was sentenced to five years in prison after re-drafting the 84-year-old woman’s will. Following her first conviction, the GMC apologised for “inadequate” checks made in the 1990s and for “any risk arising to patients as a result”.

Judge Hilary Manley remanded Alemi in custody and told her she will be sentenced at the same court on February 28. Judge Manley told her: “There is only one possible sentence and that will be a sentence of immediate custody of some substantial length.” She said it was a “deliberate and wicked deception” perpetrated against a number of health authorities.

The judge said the deception allowed Alemi to work in positions which involved “potentially very vulnerable people over a long period of time” and described the offending as “very grave”. She told the court that, before sentencing, she wanted to know “how it was this defendant was able to practise as long as she was, in so many positions”.

Christopher Stables, prosecuting, said Alemi is believed to be 60, although the court heard that she had three different dates of birth on documents.

Opening the case, he told the jury: “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.”

Alemi had denied forging her degree certificate, telling the jury she did not fail any exams in the six-year bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery course. The court heard that university records showed Alemi, who was born in Iran, was stopped from re-enrolling at the university in New Zealand after failing a number of years.

She claimed she had moved from her home country to New Zealand after she and her family were tortured following the Iranian revolution.

Janice Wild, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Alemi used forged New Zealand medical qualifications to obtain employment as a UK NHS psychiatrist for 20 years. In doing so, she must have treated hundreds of patients when she was unqualified to do so, potentially putting them at risk. Her fraudulent actions also enabled her to dishonestly earn income and benefits in excess of £1 million, to which she was not entitled. We will now pursue confiscation proceedings against her aiming to recover the criminal property from which she has benefited.”