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-fixing 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 score increase. As for Mr. Hung, according to the testimony of Head of Examination Department Lo Van Huynh, he received 100 million VND after helping the defendants commit fraud.

Allow people into the room to not take out exam papers

According to the investigation, the two former police officers opened the iron door and gave the room key so that the defendants in the case could 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 to 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.

Afterwards, 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 hours to withdraw and correct the exam papers. Mr. Hung agreed because before that, this former officer had asked the defendants to correct the scores of a candidate.

Police read the arrest warrant for 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 the answers.

The next morning, Nga brought the corrected test papers 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 exam room to correct the exam papers for candidates. However, that day, former Lieutenant Colonel Do Khac Hung was away, so the key was given to a unit officer 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 first floor iron door 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 scores, so she asked Thuy and Son to find these papers again. Afterwards, the female specialist of the Examination Department directly corrected the answers and re-scanned the photo board.

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

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

To avoid detection, when re-scanning the exam papers with corrected answers, Ms. Nga changed the system time on the computer to match the time the exam papers were previously scanned.

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.

Upon hearing that the Ministry of Education and Training was coming to inspect Son La, defendant Tran Xuan Yen feared that the original scanned image of the exam paper 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 them. When working with the working group of the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Yen knew that his data deletion 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 admitted 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's Examination and Quality Management Department), 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 Quality Management of Education) 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).