MIRROR
A “fraudster” posed as a qualified doctor and was paid more than £1 million by the NHS after forging a degree certificate, prosecutors allege.
Zholia Alemi, who is believed to be 60, is alleged to have forged the document and handed it to the General Medical Council, based in Manchester, in 1995, along with a forged letter of verification.
Ms Alemi is accused of two offences of forgery; two offences of using a false instrument; three offences of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception; and 13 offences of fraud by false representation. She denied all 20 offences and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Christopher Stables, prosecuting, said that over a period of about 20 years, she ‘held herself out and practised as a doctor of medicine’, though she had never passed or achieved the relevant university qualification and was not a properly qualified doctor.
“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,” Mr Stables said.
