Faraz Cheema, registration number 2061122, has been restored to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register nine years after he was removed over a conviction for fraud.
The GPhC’s fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee said on October 30 that it was “satisfied” the pharmacist had shown “sufficient insight and remediation” to rejoin the register.
In August 2016, Cheema was convicted of fraud at Manchester Crown Court after he duped two doctors into investing £198,000 in a “business opportunity related to buying medication which would later be sold to Iraq”.
But there “was never an investment for medications to Iraq”, the GPhC said.
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The pharmacist had instead used the funds for “spread trading”, and the fraud was “discovered after he lost all of his investments in this volatile market”.
He was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, and required to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
And in 2017, after finding that Cheema’s fitness to practise was impaired, the GPhC removed him from the register.
The determination document for Cheema’s restoration hearing said he accepted he had been “dishonest”, “no longer considered himself to be a victim of circumstances” and recognised “he was the cause of the behaviour that resulted in his conviction”.
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The regulator noted that there had been “no further concerns raised” against Cheema and that he had “worked in positions of trust in the pharmacy sector without any reported incident”.
“He has demonstrated genuine remorse and appreciates that he, and not the surrounding circumstances, were the reason for his downfall,” it said.
Cheema’s application to be restored to the register was granted with conditions imposed for 10 months, and a review is due before the conditions expire.
“Volatile” investments
At the principal hearing, the GPhC heard that Dr A considered Cheema to be a friend and was approached by him in October 2012 about a “business opportunity” buying medication to be sold in Iraq for a profit.
Cheema guaranteed a 50% return on any investment and said that if it failed to make a return, the amount invested “would be returned by May 2013”.
Dr A borrowed £50,000 from Dr M to invest, with his brothers investing as well as Dr M, but there were no loan agreements signed and each investor “relied on oral discussions” with Cheema.
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The pharmacist approached Dr A two months later about an additional “local investment” that had “a quicker return which would be in March 2013” - and Dr A’s wife, his brother and Dr M invested in the opportunity, again with no loan agreements signed.
In March 2013, after Dr A told him that his brother needed some of his money back, Cheema said there was a delay in returning some of the investments and “it would be coming soon”.
Then, in May, Cheema told Dr A he would be “getting the money across to the UK very soon” - but by August, he had admitted “there was never an investment”.
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He had used the money to participate in “spread trading”, which the FtP committee noted is “a highly volatile means of investing money where it is possible to make, or lose, substantive sums of money”.
Cheema referred himself to the GPhC, and the FtP committee removed him from the register in July 2017, ruling that no other sanction “would be proportionate or sufficient to protect the public interest”.
Time passed “in his favour”
At the restoration hearing, Cheema acknowledged that being restored to the register was a “privilege and not an entitlement”, and in his written statement to the FtP committee said he felt “deep remorse” for his actions and accepted “complete responsibility”.
“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 said.
The FtP committee said there was a “low risk of repetition” and that his work in the pharmacy sector since his conviction has required him to explain why he was removed from the register.
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It heard that Cheema had apologised to all his victims – except one “who did not want to speak to him” – and had undertaken 16 continuing professional development (CPD) activities between March 2023 and April 2026 to keep his skills and knowledge “up to date”.
It also heard that the CPD was “relevant to the applicant’s current work as a community pharmacy dispenser and the skills needed to work as a pharmacist”, but said there were no certificates produced that confirmed what he had learned or achieved.
The FtP committee recognised that Cheema would be excluded from most CPD courses because he was not on the register, and noted that his “ambition was to work in a community pharmacy”.
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Testimonials spoke “highly of his abilities in operating under a role not requiring registration”, and the committee noted that Cheema was aware he would need to pass several courses “before being signed off in more advanced competencies required of him”.
The GPhC said the amount of time that had passed since his removal was a factor “in his favour”.
It added that his “continued engagement with the pharmacy sector” and his “proactive approach to keeping up to date with and observing pharmacy practice during the period” had “reduced the impact” on his clinical knowledge and skills.
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The committee said “a well-informed member of the public would not be concerned” by Cheema rejoining the register if they knew he had been “rehabilitated after a significant period of time”.
It added that his removal was “not due to him being an unsafe practitioner” and said there was “a public benefit in restoring a competent practitioner to the register”.
Read the determination in full here.
