The university degrees of some 43 senior Saudi government officials are being verified after the government departments refused to accept them without the attestation of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education.



According to an informed source at the Saudi Ministry of Civil Service, the departments would not consider these certificates in the promotions or the salary scale.



The source said the certificates are being scrutinized to verify if they are real or fake.



He said there are more than 1,100 fake universities in the United States alone and 800 similar other varsities in the world issuing forged degrees.



Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) has declined to reveal the number of complaints against fake university degrees which it received last year on the ground that the issue is confidential and sensitive.



The commission considers the forging of education certificates a kind of corruption.



The Ministry of Civil Service said it will not accept any certificate if it has not been attested by the Ministry of Education.



This article first appeared in the Saudi Gazette on Nov. 11, 2015

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:45 - GMT 06:45