Search Page

Four former senior officials from the Eastern Cape Department of Education and a company director have been arrested on corruption charges involving the purchase of textbooks for students. The senior education official bypassed the department's supply chain process by obtaining a Supplementary Resource Material (SRM) agreement that was not required. Reports allege that the official received a bribe in the form of two laptops and a mobile phone from the company that received the R59 million for the SRM material.

Two former accountants at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology received 7.5 years in prison after they were found guilty of embezzling Ksh2.5 million. They faced ten counts for fraudulent acquisition of public property, abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud and stealing by a person employed by the public service. Another Education official was sentenced to 2.5 years after stealing Ksh1.5 million of public funds.

A former Executive secretary of the Lagos State Scholarship Board has been charged with 8 counts of criminal conversion of N127 million belonging to the scholarship board. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s report revealed that the funds meant for students’ scholarship payments, staff welfare and office renovation had been used for personal purposes.

School officials in the city of Athens and Limestone County have conspired to obtain more public funding by claiming to enrol full-time private students in the system's virtual schools. The two school districts were improperly paid around $7 million in state education funding for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. By November 2017, more than 500 private school students were fraudulently enrolled in Athens Renaissance schools and over 50 students in Conecuh County.

The World Bank has suspended the first tranche of $100 million in a programme to fund free schools in DR Congo after a November report found fake invoices, lists of teachers filled with fake names at non-existent schools, and alleged embezzlement of 63 billion Congolese francs ($31 million). Two senior officials, including the head of teachers’ payroll, are in pre-trial detention.

An audit conducted at Yonsei University In Seoul revealed 86 cases of irregularities including unfair admissions, evaluations, and recruitment issues, as well as allegations of misappropriation of university funds by professors who used the university ‘corporate cards’ to pay for nightclub entertainment and golf. Twenty-six staff and faculty members are subject to disciplinary action, and eight cases have been filed for violations of regulations including allegations of misconduct or embezzlement and violations of private school laws.

The head of South Australia's Independent Commissioner against Corruption launched an investigation into allegations of misconduct and malpractice on the part of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide after he resigned for health reasons. The university had previously projected revenues of more than A$1 billion (US$705 million) for this year, but these have been replaced by projected losses of A$100 million.

The Financial Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation at the Ministry of Education regarding the education provided to Syrian refugee students funded by the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union, and Germany. The list of children enrolled for evening classes in the 346 State schools includes a far greater number of students than those who actually attend them. The amount missing is calculated by multiplying the number of 15,000 ghost students to the $600 that donors allocate each year for every registered student. $9 million disappears each year since 2014.

The Department of Justice reports that a former Cleveland Clinic Foundation researcher has been arrested and charged with wire fraud and false claims for allegedly failing to disclose funds he received from the Chinese government while simultaneously accepting more than $3.6 million in funding from the National Institute of Health.

The FBI announced that the former Education Secretary has been charged with allegations that she used her position to give 1,034 square feet of a school to a company in exchange for financial benefits. If found guilty, she could face sentences of up to 10 years for conspiracy and bribery, and up to 20 years for wire fraud.