HOW did Zholia Alemi fool the UK medical authorities for 22 years?

The News & Star has uncovered fascinating evidence of how the fraudster expertly navigated the world of professional psychiatry in the UK - despite failing to qualify when she studied at the University of Auckland.

In the 1990s, New Zealand medical students gained their qualification in two stages. Their first three years was devoted to a degree in human biology. The following three years involved intense medical training. Alemi failed the first year of her biology degree.

Two years later, she re-enrolled, and eventually gained the human biology degree in 1991. She then failed the first year of her medical training, but passed at her second attempt the following year.

She failed her second year and was deemed ineligible to complete the MBChB medical degree which would have allowed her to qualify as a doctor.

“I remember Zholia as a struggler,” said Graham White, a retired academic who was involved in the university’s admissions committee. “She scraped through the exams that she passed,” he said.

Alemi appears to have learned enough to bluff her way through clinical practice after she moved to the UK, said Mr White.

Incredibly, in 2003, eight years after she conned her way on to the UK Medical Register, Alemi sat and passed the tough Royal College of Psychiatrists’ two-part MRCPsych exam - the qualification that allowed her to become an NHS consultant.

The college later recommended her for entry to the General Medical Council’s Specialist Register in 2012. “This meant the college was satisfied she had demonstrated the knowledge, skills and experience required to be appointed as a substantive consultant in the NHS,” said a GMC spokesman.

The Royal College’s President, Professor Wendy Burn said: “This unqualified person working as a psychiatrist passed the college professional exams in 2001 and 2002 according to her training and assessment records. In 2012 she applied to the GMC for an assessment of her competencies under the Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR), which she passed after several attempts. In order to take these professional qualifications, recommendations are needed from training supervisors and we are conducting further investigations to understand how those decisions were made.”