There's something almost poetic about a dentist who spent five years drilling into the NHS wallet instead of her patients' teeth. On 6 July 2026, Fariba Shameli, 54, the former owner of Findon Dental Care in Worthing, was found guilty at Hove Crown Court of fraud by abuse of position. She didn't bother showing up for the verdict. A warrant has been issued for her arrest. How very on-brand.
Between March 2013 and June 2018, Shameli submitted 1,037 fraudulent claims worth £92,511. She claimed payment for work that was never carried out, inflated bills, double-dipped by charging both the NHS and private patients, billed for procedures done by trainees that didn't count towards her targets, and fiddled treatment dates to dodge financial clawbacks. It was less dentistry, more creative accounting with a drill.
The whole racket was designed to dodge the NHS clawback rules. Dentists who fail to hit 96 per cent of their contracted units of dental activity risk having to repay funding. Shameli apparently decided the smarter move was to invent the activity instead. A classic tale of personal responsibility meeting public money.
This was a deliberate and calculated fraud, carried out for personal gain.
Ben Reid, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, put it plainly. For every pound Shameli pocketed, a pound was ripped from actual patient care. She had been entrusted to behave honestly. She chose not to. Prosecutors built a compelling case from patient records, lab documents, statements from 13 patients and witnesses, and testimony from a trainee dentist. The evidence wasn't exactly hidden in a cavity.
This wasn't her first brush with the system. She'd already been convicted in October 2025 on one count of the same offence. The latest trial was the retrial on the remaining charges. Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are now grinding away to recover her ill-gotten gains. The NHS Counter Fraud Authority carried out the investigation. At least someone in the public sector was doing their job properly.
The case is a textbook example of how easily taxpayer-funded systems can be gamed when oversight grows lax. Individual accountability still matters. Rigorous prosecution sends the message that abusing the welfare state carries consequences. No sob stories about systemic pressures or underfunding here. Shameli made choices. The court called them criminal.
