Three individuals accused of making fake university degrees and other illegal documents were sentenced from one to three and a half years in prison on April 4 in the Mekong Delta’s Can Tho City.
The city’s Ninh Kieu District People’s Court announced the decisions following a one-day trial.
Accordingly, Pham Duy Khiem, 26, from Hau Giang Province was sentenced to one year in prison; Nguyen Tri Cuong, 27, from Soc Trang Province was sentenced to three years and six months in prison; and Nguyen Van Ut Nho, 32, also from Soc Trang, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
According to an indictment, in August 2008 Khiem told a man named Pham Van Bao that he was part of a ring that produced fake documents to help people get into colleges and universities without having to sit the required entrance exams.
Khiem reportedly told Bao that the false degrees would work for any higher education institutions from Ho Chi Minh City to Ca Mau Province.
Trusting Khiem’s pledge, Toan allegedly asked him to create phony papers so that his sister could transfer from the Vocational School No.9 in Vinh Long Province to the Can Tho Medical College. For his services, Khiem charged Toan a total of VND11.5 million (US$605).
Toan then asked Khiem to make three more fake certificates so that his father and uncles could apply to be boat masters and chief engineers. For this, Khiem charged VND10 million.
Toan was then introduced by Khiem to Nguyen Tri Cuong, who told Toan he could help him get into a police training school for VND44 million ($2,000).
