How did two former police officers assist a group that fixed exam scores in Son La?

The conclusion of the supplementary investigation into the 2018 high school exam score correction case in Son La determined that two former police officers of this province, Dinh Hai Son and Do Khac Hung, knew clearly that the other six defendants colluded to correct multiple-choice test scores for 44 candidates but did not stop them.

Notably, Mr. Son also sent information of 2 candidates to ask for increased scores. According to the testimony of Head of the Examination Department Lo Van Huynh, Mr. Hung received 100 million VND after helping the defendants commit fraud.

Allow people to enter the room and not take out the exam papers

According to the investigation, two former police officers opened the iron door and gave the room key to the defendants in the case to take the multiple-choice test papers out and edit them according to the answers provided by the Ministry of Education and Training. The entry and exit of the restricted area happened many times after office hours.

On June 29, 2018, defendant Nguyen Thi Hong Nga (specialist of the Examination and Quality Management Department) told Ms. Cam Thi Bun Son (Deputy Head of the Political and Ideological Department, Department of Education and Training) to select the exam papers of candidates on the list to have their scores increased to scan the answers but did not seal them as prescribed.

After that, Nga asked Do Khac Hung (former lieutenant colonel of the Internal Political Security Department - Provincial Police) to create conditions for the defendants to stay after work to withdraw and correct the exam papers. Mr. Hung agreed because previously, this former officer had asked the defendants to correct the scores of a candidate.

Police read the arrest warrant against defendant Nguyen Thi Hong Nga (right cover). Photo:NH

Late in the afternoon, Nga, Son and defendant Dang Huu Thuy (Vice Principal of To Hieu High School) were allowed by Do Khac Hung to enter the room to find the multiple choice test papers. Afterwards, the three defendants took the test papers to Thuy's private home in To Hieu ward to correct them according to the answers.

The next morning, Nga brought the multiple choice test papers with corrected answers back to their original place.

The investigation also determined that on the afternoon of June 30, 2018, Nga continued to ask Hung to let her into the room containing the test papers to correct the test papers for the candidates. However, that day, former Lieutenant Colonel Do Khac Hung was away, so the key was given to a cadre in the same unit named Dinh Hai Son. According to the case documents, Mr. Son also gave a list of 2 candidates to ask the defendant Nga to increase their scores.

That evening, Mr. Son opened the iron door on the first floor and gave the room key to Nga so that he, Mr. Thuy and Mr. Huynh could take the candidates' test papers home to correct the answers.

Delete data to cope

After each time they brought the corrected test back to the document storage room, Nga and her accomplices deleted the previous scanned image of the test and then scanned a new image.

On July 2, 2018, Nga discovered that 4 exam papers did not meet the required score, so she asked Thuy and Son to find these papers again. After that, the female specialist of the Examination Department directly corrected the answers and re-scanned the photo board.

Defendant Nga confessed that he once corrected the test right in his office in the Department.

According to Nguyen Thi Hong Nga's testimony, in addition to correcting the test papers at Thuy's house, this defendant once brought the test papers to correct directly at the office of the Son La Department of Education and Training.

To avoid detection, when re-scanning the exam papers with the corrected answers, Ms. Nga changed the system time on the computer to match the time of the previous exam paper scan.

When the scanning of the exam papers was completed, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Tran Xuan Yen directed the sealing of the exam paper bags before handing them over to Nga to make a formal record of the exam paper scanning results on the computer.

When hearing the information that the Ministry of Education and Training was coming to inspect Son La, defendant Tran Xuan Yen feared that the original scanned exam photos could be restored, so he made an appointment with Nguyen Thi Hong Nga to come to his house to discuss how to use software to delete the entire trash bin on the computer.

Before deleting, Nga copied the test data onto 16 CDs to avoid losing it. When working with the working group of the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Yen knew that his act of deleting the data had been exposed, so he burned the CDs.

Referring to the Institute of Criminal Science (Ministry of Public Security), the Investigation Security Agency of Son La Provincial Police determined that 44 multiple-choice test papers were all erased and corrected. Those erased parts were not filled in by one person.

The defendants, who were members of the examination board, all confessed to receiving money from the candidates' families to thank them for raising their scores. However, the party that delivered the money did not admit to this. Defendant Do Khac Hung also denied receiving 100 million VND from Lo Van Huynh. Because there were no other documents to prove the money transfer, the investigation agency did not have enough grounds to make a conclusion.

List of 8 defendants prosecuted for the crime of Abusing position and power while performing official duties:

- Tran Xuan Yen (Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training), Nguyen Thi Hong Nga (specialist of the Department of Examination and Quality Management), Dang Huu Thuy (Vice Principal of To Hieu High School, Son La City), Cam Thi Bun Son (Deputy Head of the Department of Political and Ideological Affairs, Department of Education and Training), Lo Van Huynh (Head of the Department of Examination and Education Quality Management) and Nguyen Thanh Nhan (Deputy Head of the Department of Examination and Quality Management).

- Dinh Hai Son (former major and deputy team leader) and Do Khac Hung (54 years old, former lieutenant colonel).