Police search Shtip and Skopje over alleged grade-selling at Goce Delchev University
IT sector head R.T. is suspected of manipulating student records; cash seized during searches ordered by the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Shtip.
Police officers are carrying out searches at several locations in Shtip and Skopje in an investigation into alleged manipulation of grades, exam points and student records at Goce Delchev University in Shtip.
The inquiry focuses on a university employee, identified by initials R.T., who serves as head of the IT sector and is suspected of making unlawful changes to the university's electronic student registry.
Searches and allegations
Initial information indicates investigators suspect the accused altered exam points, deleted grades and enabled semester enrolments for students who did not meet the required conditions, reportedly in exchange for money. The interventions are said to have most often involved students from Turkey.
During a search of the suspect's home authorities recovered a substantial amount of cash; the exact sum and any direct link to the alleged scheme have not yet been disclosed.
Police units from the Department for Criminal Police, the Shtip Regional Police Directorate, the Skopje Regional Police Directorate and the Computer Crime Sector at the Ministry of Interior are conducting the searches under a court order issued by the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Shtip. The actions are linked to alleged criminal offences of "abuse of official position and authority" and "damage to and unauthorized intrusion into a computer system", attributed to R.T., head of the university's IT sector.
The Ministry of Interior said that "After the action is fully completed, we will appropriately inform the public." Further procedural steps and potential charges will depend on the findings of the ongoing operation.
Photo: press material from the event
