The price for altering high school exam scores in Son La in 2018 reached 500 million VND.

The Son La Provincial People's Procuracy has just issued an indictment prosecuting 8 defendants for the crime of...Abusing one's position and authority in the performance of official duties.During the 2018 national high school graduation exam, these individuals were accused of abusing their positions for personal gain, colluding to withdraw exam papers and raise the scores of 44 candidates.

According to the indictment, four of the eight defendants—Nguyen Thi Hong Nga (a specialist in 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 deputy principal of To Hieu High School)—received money from several individuals to raise the scores of candidates.

Specifically, Ms. Nga was assigned to scan the exam papers of the candidates, check and correct technical errors. However, before and during the grading period, Ms. Nga directly received requests to raise the scores of 16 candidates. Of these, she received over one billion VND to raise the scores of four students.

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

The defendant Huynh is accused of abusing his position and authority as deputy head of the examination grading committee to inflate scores for 7 candidates. Huynh, along with other defendants, allegedly withdrew and altered test scores for 32 people and manipulated scores in the literature subject for 12 people.

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

The suspect, Thuy, was a member of the team responsible for processing multiple-choice test papers and was assigned to scan and grade them. Before grading, he received information from four candidates to raise their scores. Among these, Thuy received 500 million VND from three individuals to raise the scores of four candidates, but returned the money by July 24th.

In addition, the suspect Cam Thi Bun Son also admitted to altering a student's exam score for 440 million VND.

According to the indictment, the defendants' actions of receiving money and agreeing to receive money to alter and raise exam scores for candidates show signs of criminal offenses.Accepting bribes,giving bribesandbribery brokersHowever, apart from the defendants' statements and the money already paid to the investigating agency, there is no other documentation to prove this. Therefore, the Procuratorate determined that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute defendants Nga, Son, Huynh, and Thuy for the crime.Receiving bribes, giving bribesandBribery brokerThe aforementioned amount of money was determined to have been obtained through illicit means, providing sufficient grounds to prosecute the defendants for the crime.Abusing one's position and authority in the performance of official duties..

According to the investigation results, 18 intermediaries received information from the candidates' family members or through other individuals. Of these, two denied providing candidate information, and 16 admitted to transferring candidate information but only "asked to preview exam scores."

Regarding the parents of the candidates, 27 admitted to providing information to check the scores in advance so that their families could adjust their children's school preferences accordingly. They stated that they did not exchange or promise any material benefits with the defendants or intermediaries. 15 denied providing the names of the candidates to the defendants or intermediaries.

The police will continue their investigation into intermediaries involved in receiving information from candidates seeking to inflate their scores.

The other four defendants in the case are Tran Xuan Yen (former deputy director of the Son La Provincial Department of Education and Training), Nguyen Thanh Nhan (former deputy head of the examination department of the Son La Provincial 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). They all admitted to raising exam scores for candidates. However, the indictment does not specify whether these individuals received money in the same way as the four defendants mentioned above.

As the head of the multiple-choice test processing team, Mr. Yen used his personal connections to help raise the scores of 15 candidates. Specifically, on June 28, 2018, Mr. Yen received a list of 8 candidates needing score increases from the Director of the Son La Department of Education and Training, Hoang Tien Duc. He subsequently received a list of 7 more candidates from four other individuals.

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

The Ministry of Education and Training re-evaluated 44 multiple-choice test papers suspected of cheating in Son La and lowered the scores of all of them. Among these, the student with the biggest score reduction lost 26.55 points across three subjects, with actual scores being 0 points in Mathematics, 0.25 points in Physics, and 0.2 points in English. Five students each had their scores reduced by over 22 points.