The General Medical Council was under siege today over a ‘failed check’ – after a fake psychiatrist was allowed to practice for more than 20 years with fake papers.
Zholia Alemi has been sentenced to seven years in Manchester Crown Court today for 20 fraud offences.
She claimed to have qualified from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, but earlier this month a jury found her guilty of forging the diploma and verification letter she used to register with the GMC in 1995.
Judge Hilary Manley sentenced her, saying the crimes “cut so deeply into the core of healthcare in this country.”
She added: ‘That the diploma and supporting letter have been accepted by the GMC represents an abject failure of research.
Zholia Alemi has been sentenced to seven years in Manchester Crown Court today for 20 fraud offences
The forged diploma Zholia Alemi used to register as a psychiatrist
“You profited from that failure and, of course, from your own deliberate and calculated dishonesty.”
The judge expressed concern about evidence from a GMC representative at trial telling the court that there was a high level of scrutiny of documents.
She said the court was “disturbed” by the apparent contradiction over a statement from the GMC that documents dating back to the 1990s had not been subject to the “rigorous scrutiny” now in effect.
The judge called on the GMC to conduct a “thorough, open, transparent” investigation into how the defendant was able to submit “such patently false documents” and why it took a journalist, rather than a professional governing body, to get to the truth .
Judge Manley said Alemi, who was able to detain patients against their will and prescribe powerful drugs, moved to various posts across the country to make sure “the finger of suspicion” wasn’t pointed at her.
Christopher Stables KC, prosecutor, said Alemi was born in Iran but was in Auckland in the early 1990s where she did not complete the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree required to practice as a doctor and was not allowed to to sit again.
In 1995, she was in the UK, where she forged a diploma and a letter of verification, he said.
Zholia Alemi was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court of 13 counts of fraud and jailed
Alemi, from Burnley, was convicted of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a monetary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument after a four-week trial
Mr Stables said: ‘Those forged documents were used by the defendant and sent to the GMC in the UK in support of her application for registration as a medical doctor.’
The court heard she was registered and worked ‘more or less continuously’ for both NHS trusts and private providers in the UK in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, earning an estimated £1.3 million.
Mr Stables, who described Alemi as a “great counterfeiter”, said it was unclear how old Alemi was as documents had three different dates of birth for her ranging from 55 to 60.
The court heard she was convicted in 2018 by Carlisle Crown Court of three counts of fraud and a charge of theft after attempting to forge an elderly patient’s will and powers of attorney.
After her conviction, journalist Phil Coleman, chief reporter for Cumbrian Newspapers, inquired about Alemi’s background and found that she never completed her qualification, the court was told.
Mr Stables said the legal proceedings had ‘come about as a direct result of the persistence of Mr Coleman’s investigative journalism’.
Alemi was told by the judge to stop raising her hand during the sentencing hearing to get the attention of her lawyers.
Francis Fitzgibbons KC, defending himself, said: “Prison for someone of her characteristics is particularly harsh.”
Alemi, from Burnley, was convicted of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a monetary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument after a four-week trial.
Una Lane, Director of Registration and Renewal at the GMC, said: “We deeply regret that Zholia Alemi was able to enroll in our medical registry in the 1990s, on the basis of fraudulent documentation, and for any risk that resulted to patients.
‘Our processes are now much stronger, with rigorous testing to ensure those joining the register are fit to work in the UK.
It is clear that in this case the measures taken almost three decades ago were not sufficient. We are convinced that our systems, 27 years later, are robust.
‘Patients deserve good care from well-qualified professionals and have great confidence in doctors. Exploiting that trust and the respected name of the profession is abhorrent.’
