A woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison after posing as a psychiatrist for over two decades, managing to defraud the National Health Service (NHS) of approximately £1 million ($1.38 million) in the process. Zholia Alemi falsely claimed to have a degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and submitted fake documents to the General Medical Council (GMC) to register as a doctor in the UK in 1995.
She was able to treat patients and prescribe medication despite having no qualifications or experience. Alemi was convicted of 13 counts of fraud, three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, two counts of forgery, and two counts of using a false instrument after a four-week trial.
