Fake doctor who forged NZ degree ordered to pay close to $1m in UK

A woman who forged a medical degree from a top New Zealand university and worked as a doctor in the United Kingdom for more than 20 years has been ordered to pay close to NZ$1 million in compensation or face further jail time.

Zholia Alemi, 63, posed as a psychiatrist while she worked for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and was paid around NZ$2 million over the course of her employment.

She never had the medical qualifications necessary.

She denied 20 offences, including forgery, but was jailed for seven years after being convicted at the Manchester Crown Court in 2023.

She had previously been sentenced for attempting to defraud an elderly woman out of NZ$2.5 million.

Alemi was born in Iran but was in Auckland in the early 1990s, the BBC reported.

She failed to complete the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees required to practice and was refused permission to resit.

A degree certificate and letter of verification was forged in 1995, the court heard.

The BBC said despite the misspelling of the word 'verify', both were accepted as evidence by the General Medical Council who registered her as a doctor.

Crown Prosecution spokesperson Adrian Foster said Alemi had been ordered by the judge to pay back more than NZ$900,000 or face two-and-a-half more years in prison.

"Alemi had little regard for patient welfare. She used forged New Zealand medical qualifications to obtain employment as an NHS psychiatrist for 20 years.

"In doing so, she must have treated hundreds of patients when she was unqualified to do so, potentially putting those patients at risk."

Foster said Alemi's fraudulent actions enabled her to earn income and benefits more than NZ$2 million to which she was not entitled.

"She cheated the public purse and £406,624 (NZ$913,657) will be paid in compensation to the NHS."