Fake degree holders are punished worldwide
March 14, 2013
LAHORE: With around 72 hours left for the Pakistani legislative houses to dissolve after completing their stipulated terms, the Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has injected a lot of “badly-needed” insulin into the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) frail body by categorically stating on Tuesday that Justice (R) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and his aides were all powerful to do whatever they deemed fit to ensure transparent polls.
Numerous countries across the globe are taking stringent actions against the elements found guilty of submitting phony documents to meet the eligibility criteria for recruitment, to get salary raises, to lure clients and to win seats in the legislative houses.
A former Iranian Interior Minister Ali Kordan, the ex-Swedish minister for employment Sven-Otto Littorin, noted British politician and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Jeffrey Howard Archer, an eminent Greek political figure Kostas Margaritis and a Lebanese parliamentarian Antoine Zahra etc have paid a heavy price in the past for forging their educational qualifications.
These above-named international politicians had mainly suffered because their countries had long been intolerant on this count.
Other eminent international personalities who are known to have been pleaded guilty of acquiring fake educational degrees include British science fiction writer Ron Hubbard, former Senior Director at the US Department of Homeland Security Laura Callahan, former member of Canadian Parliament Jag Bhaduria, Toronto Stock Exchange’s former Vice President Terry Popowich, famous international football coach George O’Leary, Ireland’s Government Science Adviser Barry McSweeney and noted South Korean movie star Jang Mi-hee, who later became a theatre and visual arts professor at a prestigious college in her country on basis of forged documents.
All these afore-named personalities had to relinquish their posts after they were found culpable.
In India, where Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act 1956 states that degrees can only be granted or conferred by a university established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act or an institution empowered by an Act of Parliament, the issue of fake educational degrees churned out by diplomas mills continues to infect the whole education system despite checks.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Bombay High Court had gone out ordering the country’s powerful Central Bureau of Investigation in February 2010 to launch an investigation into the matter and curb this menace forthwith.
The Bombay High Court order had come in the back drop of a revelation that as many as 729 cases of fake degree certificates had been identified in the prestigious University of Pune by March 2, 2010 and another 237 phony degrees were spotted by the Mumbai University earlier this year.
Faced with a rather arduous task to probe into the matter of fake documents submitted by candidates for recruitment, the Indian investigators are still meeting university officials to get closer to the culprits involved, which is a huge headache for the revered Indian universities at the moment. Consequently, people who falsely used these degrees were criminally charged.
According to the January 10, 2013 issue of “The Times of India” and April 7, 2009 edition of the “India Today the Indian Higher Education Department has recently announced in January 2013 that it would seek a probe into the havoc played by the fake degree certificate racket in world’s largest democracy, former Premier Indira Gandhi’s grandson and late Sanjay Gandhi’s son, Varun Gandhi, is still fighting his detractors on many fronts, and a particularly vexing issue it seems is the storm over his allegedly fake foreign degrees from the London School of Economics and London School of Oriental and African Studies.
“The India Today” had also stated in its afore-quoted edition: “In an attempt to set the record straight, Varun has trashed the fake-degree accusations as baseless.”
To quote more examples in a bid to assess how intolerant the world has been in recent years in this regard, a Saudi woman was convicted a year or two ago on charges of forging her educational qualification.
By June 2009, more than 180 people from across the Gulf had been blacklisted for holding fake US academic certificates allegedly bought from non-accredited institutions, including 69 from Saudi Arabia and 68 from the UAE.
Now, in the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been screening degrees provided by job applicants seeking working visas for the region for a few years now.
In Australia, it is a criminal offence to call an institution a university or issue a university degree without authorization through an act of federal or state parliaments.
Under the Australian Higher Education Support Act 2003, corporations wishing to use the term “university” require approval from the minister for education in Canberra.
Australia thus places strict controls on corporations wishing to use the term “university” and the name must not imply a connection with an existing university. The Corporations Regulations 2001 hence lists only 39 academic organizations, which are permitted to use the title “university.”
Specific penalties covered by the provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974, permitting fines in excess of Australian $10 million.
In Finland, for the purposes of professional qualification, the use of foreign degree qualifications is regulated. It goes without saying that forging degrees is a felony in Finland too.
In Germany, it is a criminal offence to call an institution a university or issue academic degrees without the authorization from the respective state’s ministry of education. It is also a crime to falsely claim a degree in Germany, if it does not meet accredited approval.
In Hong Kong’s case, anyone found using false documents with the intention of inducing somebody to accept the same as genuine, is liable for a 14-year imprisonment. The HK law outlines that anyone who makes or possesses machines that create false documents is also liable for 14-year jail time.
In September 2005, a Hong Kong woman was sentenced to 12 months for using fake degrees to secure employment. At a hearing in the Hong Kong District Court, the Police Commercial Crime Bureau had pressed the charges that the woman had used phony degree certificates obtained from two unaccredited universities in Singapore and one in the United States.
In Malaysia, it is an offence under the Education Act 1996 to establish and operate a higher educational institution by the use of the word “university,” except in accordance with any written law.
The Malaysian law prescribes a fine of 50,000 Ringgits or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or even both if a bogus institution is set up.
Apart from the penalties prescribed by the Act above, under the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, anybody found guilty of promoting any activities for the purpose of establishing a university or college, unless it is being done in accordance with the provisions of this Act, may be fined 10,000 Ringgits or imprisoned for a term of five years.
In New Zealand, the Kiwi authorities announced their intention to take action against unaccredited schools in 2004 and University of Newlands, an unaccredited distance-learning provider based in Wellington, was challenged, along with a few others.
In Philippines, the falsification of medical certificates, certificates of merit or service is a criminal act. The law penalizes the maker or the manufacturer of such certificates, specifically a physician or surgeon in connection with the practice of his profession and a public official. It also penalizes the one who procures and knowingly uses such false certificate.
In Portugal, there has been a growing effort since the year 2000 to define non-accredited universities or accredited institutions and to raise awareness about the problem. In 1999 alone, over 15,000 students enrolled in Portuguese higher learning institutions were found possessing bogus degrees.
Since 2007, Portugal has enforced more inflexible rules for all kind of public and private degree-conferring institutions.
In Romania, various universities have been listed as diploma mills. Although these universities received accreditation from Romania’s National Council of Academic Evaluation in 2002, their accreditations were cancelled for a large number of specializations after scams had surfaced.
In South Korea also, it is illegal to falsify educational qualification by presenting bogus degrees. In March 2006, prosecutors in Seoul were reported to have broken up a crime ring selling bogus music diplomas from Russia, which helped many land university jobs and seats in orchestras.
It is for this very reason that in South Korea, where demand for English language teachers is on the rise, the authorities in Seoul have recently made it mandatory for candidates in US, UK and Canada etc to send their actual diplomas or a notarised copy performed by the nearest South Korean consulate.
Early 2007, a university professor was criminally charged for forging and misusing a degree from the Yale University.
In Switzerland, it is a criminal offence, under the Unfair Competition Legislation, to use any unfounded academic or occupational qualifications. At least three notable diploma mills were identified in Switzerland, but law eventually took its course against them.
In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to offer something that may be mistaken for a UK degree unless the awarding body is on a list maintained by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
This is difficult to enforce on the Internet, where a site may be based abroad. However, the UK Trading Standards officers have had notable success in countering a large diploma mill group based abroad that was using British place-names for its “universities.”
In 2010, a nursing student at the University of Bedfordshire in United Kingdom was sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months by court for presenting false educational documents and consequently defrauding the UK National Health Service of nearly 28,000 Pounds. In the United States, no federal law strangely exists to prohibit diploma mills.
Hence, the term “university” is not legally protected on a national level. As a result, the United States is deemed a diploma mill haven from a global viewpoint.
Some degree mills have taken advantage of a relatively lenient law on this issue by representing themselves as seminaries, as religious institutions can legally offer degrees in religious subjects without government regulation in many jurisdictions.
In 2005, the US Department of Education had endeavoured to combat the spread of fraudulent degrees and a number of states have passed bills restricting the ability of organizations to award degrees without accreditation.
Almost 10,000 people had been blacklisted by the US Department of Justice by mid of 2009 for purchasing fake high school and college degrees from a “degree mill” based in Washington.
Moreover, nearly a dozen teachers, counsellors and principals in the US state of Georgia were investigated for purchasing fake advanced degrees from an unaccredited online university in Liberia that grants master’s and doctorate degrees.
Numerous countries across the globe are taking stringent actions against the elements found guilty of submitting phony documents to meet the eligibility criteria for recruitment, to get salary raises, to lure clients and to win seats in the legislative houses.
A former Iranian Interior Minister Ali Kordan, the ex-Swedish minister for employment Sven-Otto Littorin, noted British politician and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Jeffrey Howard Archer, an eminent Greek political figure Kostas Margaritis and a Lebanese parliamentarian Antoine Zahra etc have paid a heavy price in the past for forging their educational qualifications.
These above-named international politicians had mainly suffered because their countries had long been intolerant on this count.
Other eminent international personalities who are known to have been pleaded guilty of acquiring fake educational degrees include British science fiction writer Ron Hubbard, former Senior Director at the US Department of Homeland Security Laura Callahan, former member of Canadian Parliament Jag Bhaduria, Toronto Stock Exchange’s former Vice President Terry Popowich, famous international football coach George O’Leary, Ireland’s Government Science Adviser Barry McSweeney and noted South Korean movie star Jang Mi-hee, who later became a theatre and visual arts professor at a prestigious college in her country on basis of forged documents.
All these afore-named personalities had to relinquish their posts after they were found culpable.
In India, where Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act 1956 states that degrees can only be granted or conferred by a university established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act or an institution empowered by an Act of Parliament, the issue of fake educational degrees churned out by diplomas mills continues to infect the whole education system despite checks.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Bombay High Court had gone out ordering the country’s powerful Central Bureau of Investigation in February 2010 to launch an investigation into the matter and curb this menace forthwith.
The Bombay High Court order had come in the back drop of a revelation that as many as 729 cases of fake degree certificates had been identified in the prestigious University of Pune by March 2, 2010 and another 237 phony degrees were spotted by the Mumbai University earlier this year.
Faced with a rather arduous task to probe into the matter of fake documents submitted by candidates for recruitment, the Indian investigators are still meeting university officials to get closer to the culprits involved, which is a huge headache for the revered Indian universities at the moment. Consequently, people who falsely used these degrees were criminally charged.
According to the January 10, 2013 issue of “The Times of India” and April 7, 2009 edition of the “India Today the Indian Higher Education Department has recently announced in January 2013 that it would seek a probe into the havoc played by the fake degree certificate racket in world’s largest democracy, former Premier Indira Gandhi’s grandson and late Sanjay Gandhi’s son, Varun Gandhi, is still fighting his detractors on many fronts, and a particularly vexing issue it seems is the storm over his allegedly fake foreign degrees from the London School of Economics and London School of Oriental and African Studies.
“The India Today” had also stated in its afore-quoted edition: “In an attempt to set the record straight, Varun has trashed the fake-degree accusations as baseless.”
To quote more examples in a bid to assess how intolerant the world has been in recent years in this regard, a Saudi woman was convicted a year or two ago on charges of forging her educational qualification.
By June 2009, more than 180 people from across the Gulf had been blacklisted for holding fake US academic certificates allegedly bought from non-accredited institutions, including 69 from Saudi Arabia and 68 from the UAE.
Now, in the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been screening degrees provided by job applicants seeking working visas for the region for a few years now.
In Australia, it is a criminal offence to call an institution a university or issue a university degree without authorization through an act of federal or state parliaments.
Under the Australian Higher Education Support Act 2003, corporations wishing to use the term “university” require approval from the minister for education in Canberra.
Australia thus places strict controls on corporations wishing to use the term “university” and the name must not imply a connection with an existing university. The Corporations Regulations 2001 hence lists only 39 academic organizations, which are permitted to use the title “university.”
Specific penalties covered by the provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974, permitting fines in excess of Australian $10 million.
In Finland, for the purposes of professional qualification, the use of foreign degree qualifications is regulated. It goes without saying that forging degrees is a felony in Finland too.
In Germany, it is a criminal offence to call an institution a university or issue academic degrees without the authorization from the respective state’s ministry of education. It is also a crime to falsely claim a degree in Germany, if it does not meet accredited approval.
In Hong Kong’s case, anyone found using false documents with the intention of inducing somebody to accept the same as genuine, is liable for a 14-year imprisonment. The HK law outlines that anyone who makes or possesses machines that create false documents is also liable for 14-year jail time.
In September 2005, a Hong Kong woman was sentenced to 12 months for using fake degrees to secure employment. At a hearing in the Hong Kong District Court, the Police Commercial Crime Bureau had pressed the charges that the woman had used phony degree certificates obtained from two unaccredited universities in Singapore and one in the United States.
In Malaysia, it is an offence under the Education Act 1996 to establish and operate a higher educational institution by the use of the word “university,” except in accordance with any written law.
The Malaysian law prescribes a fine of 50,000 Ringgits or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or even both if a bogus institution is set up.
Apart from the penalties prescribed by the Act above, under the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, anybody found guilty of promoting any activities for the purpose of establishing a university or college, unless it is being done in accordance with the provisions of this Act, may be fined 10,000 Ringgits or imprisoned for a term of five years.
In New Zealand, the Kiwi authorities announced their intention to take action against unaccredited schools in 2004 and University of Newlands, an unaccredited distance-learning provider based in Wellington, was challenged, along with a few others.
In Philippines, the falsification of medical certificates, certificates of merit or service is a criminal act. The law penalizes the maker or the manufacturer of such certificates, specifically a physician or surgeon in connection with the practice of his profession and a public official. It also penalizes the one who procures and knowingly uses such false certificate.
In Portugal, there has been a growing effort since the year 2000 to define non-accredited universities or accredited institutions and to raise awareness about the problem. In 1999 alone, over 15,000 students enrolled in Portuguese higher learning institutions were found possessing bogus degrees.
Since 2007, Portugal has enforced more inflexible rules for all kind of public and private degree-conferring institutions.
In Romania, various universities have been listed as diploma mills. Although these universities received accreditation from Romania’s National Council of Academic Evaluation in 2002, their accreditations were cancelled for a large number of specializations after scams had surfaced.
In South Korea also, it is illegal to falsify educational qualification by presenting bogus degrees. In March 2006, prosecutors in Seoul were reported to have broken up a crime ring selling bogus music diplomas from Russia, which helped many land university jobs and seats in orchestras.
It is for this very reason that in South Korea, where demand for English language teachers is on the rise, the authorities in Seoul have recently made it mandatory for candidates in US, UK and Canada etc to send their actual diplomas or a notarised copy performed by the nearest South Korean consulate.
Early 2007, a university professor was criminally charged for forging and misusing a degree from the Yale University.
In Switzerland, it is a criminal offence, under the Unfair Competition Legislation, to use any unfounded academic or occupational qualifications. At least three notable diploma mills were identified in Switzerland, but law eventually took its course against them.
In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to offer something that may be mistaken for a UK degree unless the awarding body is on a list maintained by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
This is difficult to enforce on the Internet, where a site may be based abroad. However, the UK Trading Standards officers have had notable success in countering a large diploma mill group based abroad that was using British place-names for its “universities.”
In 2010, a nursing student at the University of Bedfordshire in United Kingdom was sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months by court for presenting false educational documents and consequently defrauding the UK National Health Service of nearly 28,000 Pounds. In the United States, no federal law strangely exists to prohibit diploma mills.
Hence, the term “university” is not legally protected on a national level. As a result, the United States is deemed a diploma mill haven from a global viewpoint.
Some degree mills have taken advantage of a relatively lenient law on this issue by representing themselves as seminaries, as religious institutions can legally offer degrees in religious subjects without government regulation in many jurisdictions.
In 2005, the US Department of Education had endeavoured to combat the spread of fraudulent degrees and a number of states have passed bills restricting the ability of organizations to award degrees without accreditation.
Almost 10,000 people had been blacklisted by the US Department of Justice by mid of 2009 for purchasing fake high school and college degrees from a “degree mill” based in Washington.
Moreover, nearly a dozen teachers, counsellors and principals in the US state of Georgia were investigated for purchasing fake advanced degrees from an unaccredited online university in Liberia that grants master’s and doctorate degrees.
