The case of the "super-fraud doctor" teaching at many universities: Police get involved

Vụ tiến sĩ siêu lừa dạy ở nhiều trường đại học: Công an vào cuộc - 1 — Master's and doctoral degrees in the name of Nguyen Truong H. were determined to be incorrect (Source: NTCC).

According to Dan Tri reporter's private source, Ho Chi Minh City Police are contacting universities to clarify the case of subjects using fake master's and doctoral degrees to teach at a series of universities.

The Head of the Administrative Department of a university said that this unit has received the working schedule of the Ho Chi Minh City Police to verify the case of Mr. Nguyen Truong H.

"Mr. Nguyen Truong H. asked for a salary of up to 40 million VND/month, which was too high so we did not accept it," he said.

The vice principal of a university in Binh Thanh District confirmed that the Ho Chi Minh City Police had contacted the school to request personnel records. Mr. Nguyen Truong H. had been a visiting lecturer for a long time, then became a full-time lecturer at this institution.

From a legal perspective, lawyer Nguyen Chi Thang - Chi Thanh LLC Law Firm, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association - analyzed that if the authorities determine that Mr. NTH used a fake degree, he will be prosecuted for the crime of using fake documents, the crime of forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations; the crime of using fake seals or documents of agencies and organizations according to Article 341 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017.

Specifically, anyone who forges seals, documents or other papers of agencies or organizations or uses forged seals, documents or papers to commit illegal acts shall be fined from 30 million VND to 100 million VND, subject to non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years.

If the crime falls into one of the following cases, the penalty is imprisonment from 2 years to 5 years: Organized; Committing the crime 2 times or more; Making from 2 to 5 seals, documents or other papers; Using seals, documents or other papers to commit less serious crimes or serious crimes; Illegal profits from 10 million VND to less than 50 million VND; Dangerous recidivism. In addition, there are other crime categories that are punishable by imprisonment from 3 years to 7 years.

"Thus, to determine whether the user of a fake degree is criminally responsible or not, it is necessary to consider the violation based on the criminal composition according to the provisions of the law," lawyer Thang analyzed.

In case the user of a fake diploma is not yet criminally prosecuted, he/she may be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 23 of Decree 04/2021/ND-CP dated January 22, 2021 of the Government on regulations on administrative sanctions in the field of education .

Regarding the responsibility of the notary unit (if the notarized document provided by the subject is correct), the 2014 Notarization Law stipulates the responsibility of the notary for that notarized document.

In addition, Decree 23/2015/ND-CP on issuing copies from original books and certifying copies from originals stipulates that competent certifying persons are responsible for ensuring honesty, accuracy, and objectivity when performing certification; and are responsible before the law for their certification...

"Therefore, in their notarization activities, notaries must be responsible before the law and the person requesting notarization for notarized documents," lawyer Thang analyzed.

Depending on the nature and level of consequences of the act, the notary may be subject to administrative sanctions or, if there are sufficient elements to constitute a crime, the violator may be prosecuted for criminal liability for the crime of "irresponsibility causing serious consequences" according to the provisions of Article 360 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017.

According to lawyer Nguyen Chi Thang, there are currently many cases of forgery of various types of documents, the most common being forgery of diplomas, identification papers, especially certificates of house and land ownership... for notarization and authentication.

The increasingly sophisticated and complicated methods of document forgery not only confuse the people but also the Notary Office.

Accordingly, when human resource management and employment units have doubts about the authenticity of certificates and diplomas, especially for important positions, they can send an official dispatch requesting relevant agencies, organizations and individuals to provide information to verify the legality of those documents and papers.

According to Dan Tri 's previous report, the case of using a fake doctorate to apply for a teaching position is NTH (born August 13, 1981), majoring in computer science, awarded in 2021 (diploma number QH: 22086798528xx). He also provided a master's degree in information technology, awarded in 2010.

All diplomas show the place of issue as University of Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

In early September this year, Mr. NTH was accepted to work at the College of Industry and Commerce on a probationary basis. On September 18, Mr. H. was appointed to the position of Head of the Information Technology Department.

The leader of Vietnam College of Industry and Trade said: "Mr. Nguyen Truong H. boasted that he had taught master's degrees at many schools, including the school in Nha Trang.

When submitting his application, Mr. H. submitted a notarized diploma, so it was very difficult for the school to verify the accuracy of the diploma.

After receiving some information reflecting doubts about Mr. H's degree in October, the school proceeded to verify.

The school sent a notarized copy of the doctoral degree in the name of Nguyen Truong H. to the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City for verification, but the results did not match the data stored at the University of Natural Sciences.

Early this November, Mr. H. submitted a resignation letter citing family reasons.

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