A man has admitted faking psychiatrists qualifications to get a job with the Waikato District Health Board.
The eight-day trial of Mohamed Shakeel Siddiqui, 55, was due to kick off in the Hamilton District Court today however he had a change of heart just minutes before it was due to start.
Concerns about his behaviour were raised by his WDHB supervisor and an investigation led to the police charging him with obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, relating to his employment between January and July, 2015.
He admitted stealing the credentials of another doctor in America with the same name.
Siddiqui faced 13 charges all up - forging documents, altering documents, and obtaining by deception.
Through his lawyer Jonathan Temm, Siddiqui pleaded guilty to four charges - forging a document to obtain employment at WDHB, obtaining a NZ Medical Council vocational licence to be hired as a psychiatrist on January 19, 2015, and using a title - psychiatrist- to imply that he was a health practitioner of a certain kind between January 19, 2015 and July 14, 2015.
Siddiqui was convicted by Judge Glen Marshall and remanded in custody for sentencing in April.
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