A dentist has been found guilty of defrauding the NHS out of more than £92,500 by manipulating more than 1,000 claims for dental work.

Fariba Shameli, 54, previously owned and operated Findon Dental Care in Worthing and was found guilty in a trial which ended yesterday (6 July) at Hove Crown Court, of submitting fraudulent claims to the NHS between March 2013 and June 2018.

In addition to these convictions, Shameli was also found guilty in a previous trial of fraud by abuse of position. Altogether, the offences in both trials covered 1037 fraudulent claims with a total value of £92,511.

Shameli lied to the NHS by claiming for dental work that was never carried out and by dishonestly increasing her claims for payment.

The fraud was motivated by Shameli's desire to avoid "clawback" procedures, where the health service recovers overpayments if dentists fail to deliver at least 96% of their contracted Units of Dental Activity (UDA).

The investigation was led by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority.

The CPS presented evidence at court including a detailed analysis of Shameli's patient records, records from private dental laboratories and witness statements from 13 patients and a trainee dentist.

It was discovered that Shameli charged for work not done at all and made claims from the NHS when the patient had paid for the treatment on a private basis. She also claimed for work that had been carried out by trainee dentists (which does not count towards a dentist’s UDA) and altered treatment dates on her records to bump up her claims for a particular financial year.

Fariba Shameli did not attend the trial at Hove Crown Court and was convicted in her absence. A warrant has been secured for her arrest.

She was previously convicted in her absence in October 2025 of one count of fraud by abuse of position, found not guilty of a second count and the jury failed to reach a verdict on three further counts  A retrial was ordered on the remaining counts of fraud, which is the trial that concluded yesterday.

Ben Reid, specialist prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service said:

"Fariba Shameli systematically defrauded the NHS over a sustained period.  For every pound of this fraud, a pound was taken from our NHS which could have gone towards patient care.

“As an NHS dentist, Shameli was entrusted to safeguard the financial interests of this taxpayer funded service and behave in an honest way.  Sadly, her behaviour fell far short of this standard and prosecutors were able to paint a compelling picture of evidence showing that this was a deliberate and calculated fraud, carried out for personal gain.

“The CPS will not hesitate to work closely with investigators such as the NHS Counter Fraud Authority to bring those who commit fraud to justice.”

Confiscation proceedings are now ongoing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the profits of this criminal activity.