57-year-old Zholia Alemi worked as a psychiatrist in a variety of locations across the UK beginning in 1995 until she was suspended in 2017. Since then, she has faced various charges including previous fraud charges related to the care of an octogenarian dementia patient she was treating.
While she was allegedly providing care for the patient, she was accused of faking the patient's will in an attempt to place herself in a position of inheriting a £1.3 million estate. While she denied the charges against her, she was found guilty by the Carlisle Crown Court and sentenced to five years.
Now, officers in West Cumbria have confirmed that they have brought 13 new fraud charges against Alemi. She is due to appear before Manchester City Magistrates' Court on September 22, 2020.
The charges filed against her incude two counts of making a false instrument with intent to defraud, eight counts of fraud by false representation and three counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage.
Since her removal and subsequent arrest, the General Medical Council was forced to investigate 3,000 other foreign doctors and to determine how she was allowed to not only practice while unqualified, but to also ensure that safeguards were in place to ensure that it couldn't happen again.
According to a report, when Alemi registered within the UK, she did so under a provision that recognized qualifications from certain Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand, at the level at which their home country registered them. That section of the Medical Act has not been used since 2003.
When Alemi registered, she did so reporting that she had a medical degree from the University of Aukland when in fact, she had dropped out in her first year of medical school.
The Herald reports that when Alemi registered, she provided a forged degree certificate, forged primary medical qualifications and a fake letter of recommendation. It is unclear if these are the documents for which she is now being charged.