A FRAUDSTER who was this week jailed in England for practising as a psychiatrist despite never qualifying as a doctor is also believed to have practised in Northern Ireland.
Zholia Alemi, 60, had already served a sentence of five years for fraud after trying to alter the will of an elderly patient in order to inherit her £1.3m estate.
Earlier this week, she was sentenced to seven years at Manchester Crown Court after being found guilty of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of deception, two counts of forgery and two counts of using material to fake a medical qualification.
"Alemi used forged New Zealand medical qualifications to obtain employment as a UK NHS psychiatrist for 20 years," said Janice Wild of the CPS.
"In doing so, she must have treated hundreds of patients when she was unqualified to do so, potentially putting them at risk."
Forged documents
Following her sentencing, Cumbria Police revealed that Alemi had also practised in Northern Ireland.
Alemi obtained her registration as a doctor after going to the UK's General Medical Council (GMC) in 1995 with numerous forged documents.
These included a degree certificate from New Zealand, a letter of verification and letters of reference from a hospital in Pakistan.
At the time, the law allowed graduates of medical schools in certain Commonwealth countries to obtain registration based on a qualification in their originating country.
This meant Alemi did not have to sit and pass the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board exam, a skills assessment that is usually required of doctors who qualified abroad.
She gained registration and practiced in Northern Ireland and Manchester before reaching consultant status in 2003 after passing assessments with the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Alemi was then employed as a section 12 practitioner in 2012, a role which held authority to section patients.
Alemi was had dropped out of medical school after one year (Image: Cumbria Constabulary)After practising throughout Britain for several years, Alemi moved to Cumbria.
Following concerns raised by the region's Adult Social Care teams, she appeared in court in 2018 and was convicted for attempting to defraud an elderly client out of £1.3m.
In the wake of the trial, journalist Phil Coleman of Cumbria's News & Star newspaper contacted the University of Auckland, where Alemi was said to have obtained her qualifications.
It was then established that Alemi had never actually qualified as a doctor, instead dropping out after the first year.
An international investigation was launched and following police searches in England and Northern Ireland, a forged certificate from the university was seized.
Enquiries also found that the hospital in Pakistan used as a reference by Alemi had never existed.
'Manipulative criminal'
"This was a highly unusual case which involved a skilled fraud carried out and maintained over a number of years," said Detective Superintendent Matt Scott of Cumbria Constabulary.
"Alemi is a manipulative criminal who fraudulently obtained a critical health care role which involved important responsibilities about people's lives — despite never having obtained the most fundamental qualification to start her career."
He added: “I would also like to thank the cooperation of the various health partners in the NHS, GMC and more, who we have liaised with during the course of this investigation and have been invaluable in helping us to reach the stage we are today on conviction, and to ensure Alemi will never again be able to call herself a 'doctor'."
