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A pharmacist has been allowed to return to the pharmacy register more than nine years after the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) ordered his removal following his conviction for fraud totalling nearly £200,000.

Faraz Cheema was given the sanction by a GPhC fitness-to-practise committee in July 2017 after he was sentenced almost a year earlier at Manchester Crown Court to 20 months’ imprisonment suspended for 24 months for cheating two doctors out of a combined £198,000.

A GPhC restoration hearing at the end of last month ruled he can return to practice but with conditions imposed for 10 months, such as finding a workplace supervisor, asking the GPhC to approve that supervisor and ensuring he stays “under their close supervision”.

The original GPhC committee heard Cheema, who was also told by the court to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, approached Dr A about a business opportunity in October 2012 relating to “buying medication which would later be sold to Iraq”.

Cheema guaranteed a 50 per cent return on any investment and promised to return all the money if the investment failed to make a return by May 2013.

Made investments of £5,000 and £10,000 respectively

Dr A borrowed £50,00 from another doctor, known as Dr M, to invest with Cheema. Dr M and his brothers also made investments of £5,000 and £10,000 respectively.

“At the time of the investments, no loan agreements were signed, each investor relied on oral discussions,” the committee noted in its report at the time.

Cheema approached DR A again in December 2012 with an “opportunity for a further investment into a smaller investment” which Cheema claimed would bring a quicker return by March 2013.

“This was to be a local investment with a 50 per cent return and again, if the investment failed to make a return, the full amount of any monies invested would be returned,” the report said.

At that point, Dr A spoke with his friend and family and more investments were made by Dr A’s wife, his brother and Dr M but “no loan documentation was ever produced”.

After a total of £198,000 was invested, Dr A heard nothing from Cheema and contacted him in March 2013. The committee heard Cheema apologised for the delay in getting the money and promised “it would be coming soon”.

Highly volatile means of investing money

Dr A told Cheema his brother needed some of the money that he had invested and Cheema arranged for a friend to visit Dr A’s home a few days later and give him £1,500 to pass on to his brother.

The committee heard there was no more contact from Cheema until May 2013 when he texted Dr A to say he “would be getting the money across to the UK very soon”, followed by another apology.

However, in August that year, Cheema admitted to Dr A that there was never an investment for medications to Iraq and had “misrepresented what he intended to use the money for”. The committee heard the money was used to participate in “spread trading”. 

“This is a highly volatile means of investing money where it is possible to make or lose substantive sums of money,” the report said. “His fraud was discovered after he lost all of his investments in this volatile market.”

In July 2017, the committee found his fitness to practise was impaired and said removal was necessary to “protect the public interest, including public confidence in the profession”.

'Deep remorse' for his actions

However, Cheema told the restoration hearing he accepted his “wrongdoing”, had undergone rehabilitation since his removal and had “supportive testimonials” to support his intention “to return to safe practice through a structured process”.

In a written statement to the hearing, Cheema said he wanted to express his “deep remorse” for his actions.

“I fully acknowledge the seriousness of my behaviour and accept complete responsibility,” he said. “Reflecting on my past decisions, I recognise that my drive for quick financial success clouded my judgment and led me away from the ethical standards I was expected to uphold.”

He added: “My ambition for rapid financial gain stemmed from a desire to build a successful business and achieve financial security.

“This misplaced priority pushed me towards decisions that I wrongly believed would accelerate my progress. My involvement in spread trading was motivated by the hope of large, fast profits that I thought would help to secure my future as well as a contribution to boost the efforts in the field of growing sector of pharmacy.”

The committee said his “original conviction which led to a finding of impairment” was “serious” and took into consideration that a large sum of money was involved, “a number of people were deceived” and the money “was obtained for personal gain”.

However, the latest committee concluded Cheema had “demonstrated sufficient insight and remediation to justify restoration, provided appropriate safeguards were put in place through conditions”.

As part of the 10-month conditions, he must arrange for his workplace supervisor to send a report on his progress to the GPhC every three months or when it asks for one.