The price to correct 2018 high school exam scores in Son La is up to 500 million VND

Son La Provincial People's Procuracy has just issued an indictment to prosecute 8 defendants for the crime.Abuse of position and power in performing official duties.At the 2018 National High School Exam, these people were accused of taking advantage of their positions to steal exam papers to raise the scores of 44 candidates.

According to the indictment, four of the eight defendants, Nguyen Thi Hong Nga (specialist of the Examination and Quality Management Department), Cam Thi Bun Son (former deputy head of the Political and Ideological Department), Lo Van Huynh (former deputy head of the Examination Department of the Son La Department of Education and Training) and Dang Huu Thuy (former vice principal of To Hieu High School), received money from a number of cases to raise the scores of candidates.

Specifically, Ms. Nga was assigned to scan the candidates’ test papers, check and correct technical errors. However, before and during the marking period, Ms. Nga directly received information to raise the scores of 16 candidates. Of these, she received more than 1 billion VND to raise the scores of four students.

She voluntarily handed over the money to the Security Investigation Agency. The families of the candidates all denied giving money to Ms. Nga to help raise their scores.

Defendant Huynh was accused of abusing his position and authority to accept and raise the scores of 7 candidates as the deputy examiner. Huynh and other defendants took out multiple choice test papers and corrected the scores of 32 people and influenced the increase of the literature scores of 12 people.

In particular, Mr. Huynh received one billion VND from a man in Son La city to increase the scores of two candidates. He also received 300 million VND to increase the score of a candidate but returned it on July 24, 2018.

The defendant Thuy was a member of the multiple-choice test processing team assigned to scan and grade the test papers. Before grading the test, he received information from four candidates to increase their scores. Of this amount, Mr. Thuy received 500 million VND from three people to increase the scores of four candidates, but by July 24, he had returned it.

In addition, defendant Cam Thi Bun Son also accepted to correct scores for a candidate for the "price" of 440 million VND.

According to the indictment, the defendants' acts of receiving money and agreeing to receive money to correct and raise the candidates' scores show signs of crime.Accept bribes,briberyandbribery brokersHowever, apart from the statements of the defendants and the amount of money paid to the Investigation Agency, there is no other document to prove it. Therefore, the People's Procuracy determined that there is not enough basis to prosecute the defendants Nga, Son, Huynh, and Thuy for the crime ofTaking bribes, giving bribesandBribery brokerThe above amount of money was determined to be from personal gain, sufficient basis to prosecute the defendants for the crime.Taking advantage of position and power in performing official duties.

According to the investigation results, 18 intermediaries received information from candidates' families or through other people. Of these, two people did not admit to providing candidate information, 16 people admitted to transferring candidate information but only "asked to see the exam scores in advance".

Regarding the parents of the candidates, 27 people admitted to passing information to check the scores in advance so that the families could promptly adjust their children's wishes to suitable schools. They said they did not exchange or promise any material benefits with the defendants and the intermediaries. 15 people did not admit to providing the names of the candidates to the defendants and the intermediaries.

The police will continue to investigate intermediaries involved in receiving information from candidates to increase their scores.

The other four defendants in the case, Tran Xuan Yen (former deputy director of the Son La Department of Education and Training), Nguyen Thanh Nhan (former deputy head of the examination department of the Son La Department of Education and Training), Dinh Hai Son (former deputy head of the education team, Internal Political Security Department), and Do Khac Hung (former officer of the Internal Political Security Department), all admitted to raising the scores of candidates. However, the indictment did not identify these people as having received money like the four defendants above.

In his role as the head of the multiple-choice test processing team, Mr. Yen used his personal relationships to help raise the scores of 15 candidates. Specifically, on June 28, 2018, Mr. Yen received from the Director of the Department of Education and Training of Son La, Hoang Tien Duc, a list of 8 candidates whose scores needed to be raised. He then received an additional list of 7 candidates from four people.

Two former police officers from Son La province were assigned to ensure security in the exam marking area. However, while performing his duties, Mr. Son received information from two candidates and then asked Nga and Huynh to increase their scores. Mr. Hung received information from one candidate and asked Nga to increase his score.

The Ministry of Education and Training evaluated 44 multiple choice tests suspected of cheating in Son La and reduced the scores of all of them. Among them, the person with the highest score was reduced by 26.55 points for three subjects, the actual score was only 0 points in Math, 0.25 points in Physics, and 0.2 points in English. 5 candidates had their scores reduced by more than 22 points each.