Forged SPM result scam probed

MALACCA: The police and Higher Education Ministry are investigating a scam in which students used faked SPM results to gain admission into Egyptian universities.

At least 61 students who allegedly forged or altered their 2010 to 2012 SPM results to qualify for their tertiary studies in Egypt have been traced so far.

According to sources familiar with the probe, many of these students were still in the country pursuing mostly degrees in medicine and Islamic studies.

The parents of 12 of the students, who were called up as part of the investigation, lodged police reports denying that their children had submitted faked results.

The latest reports were lodged on March 23 in Penang and March 24 here.

It was learnt that the ministry suspected the scam as early as in September 2014 and initially put as many as 137 students under its radar.

The ministry discovered discrepancies in the entry requirements of these students after being alerted by Education Malaysia Egypt (EME), its student division agency based in Mohandessein, Cairo.

A ministry official lodged a police report at Putrajaya in September 2014 and another police report was lodged in December 2014, zooming in on the 61 people suspected to have submitted fake results for their admission requirements.

The police probe is focused on the possible involvement of a syndicate and the likelihood of many other students having obtained their places to do medicine or other courses abroad by submitting fake SPM results.

State Education, Higher Education, Science and Technology, Green Technology and Innovation chairman Datuk Wira Md Yunos Husin said he was told that in one case, a commission agent claiming to be acting on behalf of the Education Ministry had forged the results and then submitted them to EME.

“I urge parents from Malacca to give their full co-operation to the ministry and police if they are called to help in the investigation of this case.

“The probe is very crucial to nab the culprits and to get to the bottom of the scam.

“We need to know how long this has been going on and how many have previously obtained bursaries to pursue overseas education by forging their results,” he said yesterday.

The Sunday Star reported in its front page on March 20 that students who had obtained only Ds and Es for science subjects and those who failed the entrance exams were among those studying medicine and dentistry abroad.

The report also highlighted the possibility of unscrupulous agents falsifying SPM result certificates.