November

A New Zealand woman has been jailed in the UK after she was found to have provided fake qualifications to work as a doctor for more than two decades.  Zholia Alemi was last month jailed for five years after eventually being found out when she was convicted of trying to fake the will of an elderly female patient.

The New Zealander's two-decade deception has sparked urgent checks in Britain - with 3000 foreign doctors to have their credentials investigated.  Alemi, 56, claimed to have a degree from the University of Auckland when she came to work in the UK in 1992.  In reality, the convicted fraudster had flunked her first year and dropped out.

But nobody at the General Medical Council, the watchdog responsible for vetting the background of medics, checked whether her documentation was genuine.  Alemi, 56, is said to have provided a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery certificate from the university when she arrived in the UK in the early 1990s.

A spokeswoman for the university told the Herald Alemi was awarded a Bachelor of Human Biology on May 5, 1992.  She also started a medical degree - but did not complete it, the university said.  At that time, doctors from certain Commonwealth countries could be cleared to start work simply by presenting their qualifications, without sitting any assessments.  Alemi held a degree in human biology.

For the next 22 years, starting in 1995, she worked as a psychiatrist for the UK's National Health Service - treating thousands of mental health patients over that period and potentially earning up to £100,000 ($188,000) a year.  She also reportedly drove a Lotus Elise sports car.

Alemi's patients told to contact their GP

In a since deleted profile, Alemi says of herself: "I am a retired psychiatrist and a member of the London Royal College of Psychiatrists with a special interest in developmental conditions such as Asperger's ...'' The GMC is now informing anyone who was treated by Alemi at a GP surgery, hospital or clinic to get in touch with their GP.

Chief executive for the council, Charlie Massey, said staff immediately brought the situation to the attention of police and other agencies - including health authorities - when they discovered Alemi's fraudulent qualification.  She worked as a doctor up until June of last year.  "Our processes are far stronger now, with rigorous testing in place to ensure those joining the register are fit to work in the UK.  "It is clear that in this case the steps taken in the 1990s were inadequate and we apologise for any risk arising to patients as a result.  "We are confident that, 23 years on, our systems are robust and would identify any fraudulent attempt to join the medical register."

A judge described her as "despicable'' when she was sentenced last month, the Daily Mail reported.  Alemi was last month found guilty of four fraud and theft charges after a week-long trial at Carlisle Crown Court.  The New Zealander met Gillian Belham, now aged 87, at a dementia clinic in Workington in February 2016.  Within four months she had redrafted Belham's will - and fraudulently applied for power of attorney.

Belham's extended family and a raft of charities were "entirely written out" of the bogus will.  Instead, Belham's assets were to be held in a trust for the benefit of Alemi's grandchildren.  Judge James Adkin said Alemi's offending was "wicked''.  "This was despicable, cruel criminality motivated by pure greed and you must be severely punished for it."

Had she been successful, she would have stolen up to £1.3 million ($2.4m) of the woman's fortune.

France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, informed retail insight firm Vectaury that it needs to gather consent for its data-processing practices.

Vectaury, whose aim is to bring retail into a connected world, collects personal data through mobile devices to perform ad campaigns on the devices. A CNIL investigation found the company does not properly obtain consent. The agency determined users are not automatically informed when an app is downloaded that an SDK tool takes their location data.

While Vectaury claims it processes data with users’ consent, the CNIL determined it was not collected until their data was used to build an ad profile. The president of the CNIL has given Vectaury three months to fix their consent practices or face a potential fine.

This evening (Wednesday 14th November) we’ll be upgrading our system to give you new functionality and to enhance the candidate experience:

E-mail notifications for interim reports

Interim reports are available at any point between an order being submitted and the final report being ready. You can soon opt to receive a push notification when the results for quick turnaround checks such as UK Credit Checks and International Fraud/Sanctions checks are ready.  You will receive one notification per order and can choose to have the interim report PDF attached to your email notification.

To turn on this notification:

• Log into the portal
• Go to ‘My account’
• Select ‘Email preferences’

Improved academic address finder

We have improved the feature to look up an institution name, street, and postcode for academic institution addresses in the UK and in a large number of other countries. This means you and your candidates can now search for accurate addresses quicker. For many institutions, typing in the name alone is now sufficient to find the full address.  This feature not only improves user experience but also ensures that time is not wasted correcting invalid information

Extended customisation options for candidate emails

You can create bespoke invitations and follow up emails for different employee types. For example, you may prefer that candidates receive different messages than current employees who are being re-screened.

For each order, you can select which set of emails is sent to the applicant ensuring that your messaging is positioned correctly and improving the overall experience.
 

UK Criminal Checks in England and Wales: 

​Updated identity checking guidelines

As previously advised, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has updated their identity checking guidance. The changes outlined below are being made to the identity document lists on our platform for standard and enhanced checks. If you would like to update your internal identity checking guidance, you can find new ID Check Guides in the​ Help Guides library (you will need to log in first).

Irish Passport Card

The Irish Passport Card has been added to Group 2b. However, please note it cannot be used with an Irish passport.

​New documents available for non-European Economic Area applicants

• A Permanent Residence Card

• A Positive Verification Notice 

Changes to requirements:

A passport is no longer required as an additional item for the following three documents:

• A current Residence Card 

• A current Immigration Status Document containing a photograph. 

• A current Immigration Status Document 

To set up bespoke emails or notifications please contact your Account Manager or our Client Service Team