5 jailed, 45 under investigation in crackdown on fake degrees in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Five people suspected of holding fake university degrees have been jailed pending investigation and trial and 45 others are under investigation, the head of the National Assembly’s educational committee said yesterday. Speaking after a meeting by the committee with the education minister, MP Awdah Al-Awdah said the information was given to the panel by the minister, who added more people are expected to be interrogated.

The issue has stunned the country amid reports that the number of people holding forged university degrees could be as high as 1,000 and that some of them are well-known public figures and others could be in high government posts. Awdah told reporters that the revelation is just the start of the issue and not the end, adding that in the past the very existence of the issue had been categorically denied.

He said that Education Minister Hamed Al-Azmi told the panel that he was not pressurized by anyone to halt the crackdown on fake degrees, and added that the minister vowed to continue investigating the matter. Awdah said the committee has expressed total support for the minister to continue his action and decided to study the possibility of approving new legislation to stop the final appointment of government employees before their degrees are thoroughly investigated. The lawmaker said the committee warned that in case the minister does not continue with the crackdown for any reason, he will be questioned in parliament.

Azmi told reporters that the ministry briefed the committee about its measures on degrees suspected of being fake. The minister said authorities will continue with the measures, adding that the issue is with the public prosecution and that the names of the suspects and details about them will be published after they are convicted by the court. The public prosecution has already remanded an Egyptian employee at the higher education ministry to 21 days behind bars pending further investigation on suspicion that he helped authenticate several fake degrees in the computerized system of the ministry.
Opposition Islamist MP Osama Al-Shaheen yesterday demanded a thorough revision of the state’s administrative systems after holders of fake degrees succeeded in infiltrating the administration. Shaheen said that the fake degrees issue is a criminal and security one and the number of those involved is rising, adding that previous governments should be held responsible for this.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s cultural office in Jordan confirmed yesterday it would implement strict procedures for approving Kuwaiti students’ diplomas and screen them before official approval. In a statement in response to media reports about a Jordanian who forged certificates for Kuwaiti students, office attache Bader Al-Edhaila said the office’s strict procedures in dealing with certificates and student documents stand in the way of possible fraud, simultaneously denying that the office has witnessed cases of fake certificates during different stages of study.

Kuwaitis wishing to complete their academic studies in Jordan are urged to be cautious about being scammed by suspicious sites and to follow official channels to obtain a degree, he underlined. He also praised the Jordanian ministry of higher education and scientific research’s follow-up on the matter. Last year, the ministry of higher education in Jordan took legal action after a Kuwaiti was swindled by a Jordanian on social media, who offered to provide certificates from Jordanian universities and TOEFL certificates, after a complaint by the victim was filed. More than 4,000 Kuwaiti students are enrolled in Jordanian universities and colleges in various academic disciplines.