Foreign, education ministers diligently tackling issue

Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

KUWAIT: The government underlined yesterday it will pursue "legal action" against employees who have obtained fake educational certificates, as well as collaborators. The government, in a meeting chaired by Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, said it was determined to pursue legal action against employees - regardless of their positions - who sought fake educational certificates as well as those who helped them, Deputy Premier and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said in a statement.

The Cabinet also decided to form a committee with a task of examining educational certificates of state employees - citizens and expatriates - to verify their authenticity. Legal action will be launched against any person who is found guilty of obtaining a fake certificate which resulted in obtaining promotions or financial benefits, said Saleh.

The committee will be chaired by the ministry of higher education, with the Civil Service Commission and the fatwa and legislation department as members. The committee, said Saleh, will provide a monthly report including measures to address this issue and preventive action taken. The Cabinet, he noted, assigned the ministry of higher education to establish electronic links with relevant authorities to verify the certificates.

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah yesterday confirmed in a statement yesterday the ministry's intent to communicate with the ministry of higher education to make joint efforts to combat the phenomenon of fake certificates. In a statement released on the World Day Against Human Trafficking, organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Jarallah said the ministry is in contact with Kuwaiti embassies and diplomatic missions abroad to coordinate efforts and find the root cause of the problem.

The ministry of higher education has referred a set of false certificates and degrees to the public prosecution, said Jarallah, who emphasized that the ministry of foreign affairs is also following up on the matter diligently to end this problem and detect false documents. - KUNA