University staff bribed to change exam results

Two administrators at a Dubai-based university were sentenced to three years in jail each for accepting a total of Dh184,000 in bribes from students to change their exam results from fail to pass on the institution’s electronic system.
 
The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance also ordered MN, 32, Russian, and MA, 22, Lebanese to pay Dh211,200 collectively and to be deported after serving their jail term.
 
In November last year, the two were charged at Dubai Criminal Court with accepting bribes totalling Dh300,000 from 20 students.

However, the court referred the case back to the Prosecution to amend the arraignment sheet. According to the amended accusations, the Russian was charged with accepting bribes totalling Dh96,000 from eight students and other unspecified amounts from an unidentified number of students.

The Lebanese was accused of accepting Dh13,000 as bribe from one student and another unknown amount from another student.

Together, both administrators were accused of pocketing Dh75,000 in bribes from four students.

The bribes taken by both totalled Dh184,500, according to the new charge sheet.

Prosecutors said that it was the defendants’ job to receive and process the English language TOEFL and IELTS exam documents from students and put them into the university’s electronic system.
 
The administrators used the login ID in the university’s electronic system and forged results of English language tests and accepted forged certificates.
 
They also asked those students to pay them bribes against processing their registrations and enrollments in the university, according to the records.
 
Early this year, the director of the admission department noticed that there were five students whose files do not contain the English language pass certificates and so she questioned MN, 32, Russian. The administrator could not ask his Lebanese colleague who had been terminated by the university two years before the incident for bad performance.
 
MN presented photocopies of pass certificates for two of the students. These photocopies had carried the seal as original certificate stamp.
 
“I checked with ILETS and found out that these photocopies had no originals. I confronted MN, telling him that these certificates photocopies are forged,” NH, 37, Lebanese admission director.
 
The Russian staffer admitted to knowing that the photocopies were forged but claimed that he accepted them following the request of his former Lebanese colleague MA who had called him and asked him to do him a favour. The Russian employee denied receiving any money from his Lebanese ex-colleague for this service.
 
The university sacked the Russian staffer and dismissed SS, the student involved in this case. SS admitted to paying Dh20,000 to the university’s former Lebanese staff for arranging a forged certificate.
 
“I learnt from a student that MA can help in arranging certificates for English language assessment test and I gave Dh20,000 to the university staffer though that student and his friend,” admitted SS.
 
SS said he was also asked to approach the Russian admission staff and to hand him over the photocopy of the certificate on January 5.
 
The university questioned the other two involved students. They admitted to paying bribes to the former Lebanese administrators to forge their English exam results.
 
The university checked a number of files and discovered that other students had submitted forged certificates besides others whose exam results had been forged via the university’s electronic system by both the Lebanese and the Russian staffers.
 
After investigating the case, the university dismissed six students and imposed administrative penalties on 14 others who also had committed illegalities.
 
The Russian admitted only to accepting two forged photocopies and claimed that his former colleague had asked him to do so.
 
The Russian employee was arrested when he was visiting the university to finalise termination documents.
 
The Lebanese ex-staffer was arrested a week later.

 

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