**Fake Doctor Who Earned Over £1m Ordered to Repay NHS or Face Longer Prison Sentence**
A woman who spent more than two decades masquerading as a psychiatrist has been ordered by the courts to return over £400,000 to the National Health Service, or else face a longer period behind bars. Zholia Alemi, aged 62 and originally from Burnley, was previously sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of fraudulently posing as a doctor and siphoning off more than £1.2 million through her deceit.
Alemi, originally from Iran, constructed an elaborate lie about her medical credentials, claiming to have qualified from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. However, investigations later revealed that she forged degree certificates and fabricated letters of verification to secure her registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) in 1995. Despite not having completed her medical degree, she managed to attain positions of significant responsibility within the NHS across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland over the course of her false career.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Alemi had deliberately moved from one health trust to another throughout her career, attempting to evade suspicion by never staying anywhere too long. Over the years, she worked for both NHS trusts and private healthcare providers, accumulating an illicit fortune estimated at £1.3 million, although she was ultimately ordered to return a sum of £406,624, reflecting the assets currently available.
Adrian Foster, a representative from the Crown Prosecution Service, stated: “With close partnership from the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, we have tirelessly pursued the proceeds of Alemi’s crime, ensuring all of her available assets are used towards paying back the NHS. Her actions represented a wholesale disregard for patient safety.” According to Foster, Alemi’s use of forged documentation led to her treating hundreds of patients as an unqualified psychiatrist, exposing the public to potential harm and dishonestly securing a significant personal income.
Prior to this recent order, Alemi was convicted in 2018 at Carlisle Crown Court of three separate fraud charges and one count of theft after she was found to have forged a will and power of attorney belonging to an elderly patient. Following these revelations, further research by investigative journalists brought to light the extent of her deception and prompted Cumbria Police, together with several regulatory bodies, to initiate a wider investigation into her background and medical qualifications.
The investigation uncovered that Alemi had never managed to complete her bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degree in Auckland, with the university denying her the opportunity to resit exams she had failed. Despite this, in the mid-1990s she applied to the GMC using forged documents, including a fake degree certificate, letters of recommendation, and even a reference from a hospital in Pakistan which, it later emerged, did not exist.
Alemi went on to pass assessments with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, eventually being appointed as a consultant in 2003, and even held authority as a Section 12 practitioner—empowering her to detain patients under the Mental Health Act. She moved between NHS posts across the UK, only being brought to justice after safeguarding teams in Cumbria raised concerns about her conduct, prompting a full-scale police and counter-fraud investigation.
Subsequent property searches in England and Northern Ireland led to the recovery of more forged documents. Cross-border inquiries confirmed her lack of legitimate qualifications, uncovering the widespread nature of her fabrications and the dangers posed to potentially hundreds of patients under her care.
This case has sent ripples through the UK medical regulatory community, highlighting weaknesses in the verification of overseas qualifications and the dangers of relying on forged documentation. NHS officials have reiterated their commitment to stringent checks and are reviewing policies to prevent similar cases in future.
Alemi’s conviction and the latest compensation order serve as a cautionary tale. While the court and NHS have worked in collaboration to recoup a fraction of the lost funds, the true cost of her decade-long deception is still being tallied—not just in financial terms, but in potential harm to patients and public confidence in medical regulation. As the NHS seeks to recover the ordered sum of £406,624, Alemi faces the real possibility of further jail time should she fail to comply.