How forged Auckland University degree hoodwinked the NHS
Zholia Alemi managed to work as a doctor/ psychiatrist in the UK for 23 years, writes
Acarefully-forged Auckland University medical degree paved the way for a Kiwi woman to swindle about $2 million from British taxpayers in a ‘‘deliberate and wicked deception’’.
Zholia Alemi posed as a psychiatrist and worked for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) for nearly two decades.
Last week, Alemi was found guilty by a jury at the Manchester Crown Court on a number of charges. She is set to be sentenced by Judge Hilary Manley next week. .
The Sunday Star-Times can now reveal more from the prosecution’s case against Alemi and her time in New Zealand.
Prosecutor Christopher Stables said he believed Alemi was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1962 before coming to New Zealand in 1986.
The following year she married a New Zealander at a registrar’s office in Auckland. The man’s occupation was listed as a ‘‘freezing worker’’, while hers was ‘‘nurse’’.
The Star-Times was able to track down some of Alemi’s family who still live in Auckland. A family member said she had not returned to New Zealand since she left for the UK but declined to comment further.
In 1988, Alemi was granted a New Zealand residence permit. That permit stated she had a history of nursing and broadcasting and indicated she had completed a number of terms at nursing college between 1981 and 1986.
She then enroled at the University of Auckland’s School of Medicine, studying a Bachelor of Human Biology, in 1988. She failed that year but completed the degree in 1992.
In 1989, she enroled for a Bachelor of Science but it wasn’t a ‘‘spectacular success’’ and she passed only two papers, Stables said.
In 1992, Alemi enroled in the first year of a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB), which she also failed. She repeated the year in 1993, passing with a marginal grade. In 1994, she failed the second year and was deemed ineligible to repeat.
By April 1995, Alemi was living in Winchester in the UK and had a letter from an employment agency arranging a position. This was supplied to the General Medical Council (GMC), which decides whether a doctor is qualified to practise in the UK.
Alemi provided the letter of employment, along with a copy of a MBChB degree, to the GMC. That degree was not genuine, Stables said. ‘‘She decided to achieve by forgery what she had failed to achieve by academic study.’’
Alemi also provided a letter of verification, dated July 25, 1995, from the University of Auckland, purporting to be from the faculty registrar ‘‘S A Cathersides’’.
The prosecution said this letter was also forged.
Susan Cathersides was the faculty registrar when Alemi graduated with her Human Biology degree.
Cathersides’ signature on that degree was genuine but the prosecution said Alemi later ‘‘abused’’ the signature to forge other degree certificates.
Cathersides told the court she never wrote the letter and by 1995 she was no longer working as the faculty registrar.
Police found a ‘‘forger’s kit’’ while searching Alemi’s home in Omagh, Northern Ireland. It included the original torn yellow certificate, which is likely to have been the genuine University of Auckland degree for the Bachelor of Human Biology, and two photocopies.
Alemi was alleged to have taken the legitimate certificate and altered the wording with dry transfer lettering, awarding herself the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree.
She also altered the date to 1995, then photocopied it at least twice.
Police also found the forged letter of verification, a blank University of Auckland degree certificate and degree certificates in the name of Alemi’s brother.
When asked what the certificates were for, Alemi said she bought them from a souvenir shop to give to family, The News & Star previously reported.
‘‘They are not certificates. They are cards I bought for my sister for fun.’’
Police also found sheets of dry transfer letters.
Document analysis expert Oliver Thorne found the letter of verification used dry transfer lettering and the signature had been produced using multiple overlying strokes. That meant it was extremely unlikely the letter was genuine, he said.
Thorne also concluded the original certificate was altered by applying dry transfer lettering.
Alemi was investigated by UK medical authorities multiple times, dating back to 1998.
The GMC received and investigated nine complaints during the 23 years Alemi was on the register, a spokesperson said.
In 2004, the GMC issued formal advice to Alemi about the need to demonstrate sensitive communication with families.
The next time concerns were raised was in December 2010, leading to Alemi receiving a warning in 2012.
A review found she failed to declare a conviction for careless driving, misused work emails, made inappropriate comments to patients and staff, fabricated parts of her CV and did work for which she did not have approval.
In 2018, she was given a 12-month suspension.
That same year, Alemi was jailed for fraud and theft after she was found to have doctored an elderly dementia patient’s will in an attempt to inherit the pensioner’s £1.3 million (NZ$2.4 million) estate.
After she was jailed in 2018, the GMC apologised for ‘‘inadequate checks’’.
Alemi was able to become a registered doctor in the UK under a section of the Medical Act which has not been in force since 2003.
The section allows graduates of medical schools in certain Commonwealth countries to obtain registration on the basis of their qualification, without having to sit and pass assessments.
As part of her application, Alemi presented what appeared to be a primary medical qualification from the University of Auckland, a letter from the university confirming her graduation and a reference letter from her most recent employers in Pakistan.
The GMC said in the 1990s, the documents were not subject to the rigorous checks that are now in place.
‘‘We are very sorry that Zholia Alemi was able to join our medical register in the 1990s, based on fraudulent documentation, and for any risk arising to patients as a result,’’ GMC director of registration and revalidation Una Lane said.
‘‘Patients deserve good care from appropriately-qualified professionals and place a great deal of trust in doctors.
‘‘To exploit that trust and the respected name of the profession is abhorrent.
‘‘It is clear that in this case the steps taken almost three decades ago were inadequate. We are confident that, 27 years on, our systems are robust.’’
In Stables’ opening to the jury he said Alemi may simply have wanted ‘‘desperately to be a doctor’’.
Because she failed the exams, she went on to forge her qualifications so that she could practise in a field that interested or stimulated her, he said.
‘‘She may simply have wanted the status of a doctor. We are unlikely ever to know the true position.’’