Man forged NUS degree to cheat parents, used it to get teaching position

SINGAPORE — A man who applied for a part-time teaching position at an international school submitted a forged National University of Singapore (NUS) degree certificate to improve his chance of being employed.

Xie Xin, 30, a Chinese national, had withdrawn from NUS in 2016 before he could complete his computer engineering degree.

He forged a NUS degree certificate in mid-2016 by downloading an image of a NUS degree certificate for a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering) with Honours (Merit) online, and using Photoshop to insert his name onto the document.

In January 2017, he successfully appealed to be reinstated as a student, but was academically dismissed by NUS in June 2017 for failing to meet examination regulations.

Xie, a Singapore permanent resident, was fined $4,000 on Friday (11 December) after he pleaded guilty to fraudulently using a forged document in his job application for a part-time teaching position at Ascensia International School (AIS) on 15 November 2018.

He had applied for the position and underwent an interview the day before.

Xie then handed in his fake certificate to an academic support supervisor at AIS as part of his application. He later accepted a contract from AIS, which ran from 15 November 2018 to 1 December 2019.

A human resources staff was assigned to process his application. On 14 February 2019, when Xie had to sign a declaration stating that his qualifications were genuine, he hesitated and asked if he could use his A Level certificate instead of his NUS degree certificate.

Four days later, he submitted a personal statement to AIS stating that he had not completed his final year project at NUS, but that he will finish his studies when he was ready.

An AIS staff sent an email to NUS to verify the authenticity of Xie’s degree. On 21 February last year, an NUS staff replied to AIS, stating that Xie’s degree certificate did not match any of the university’s records. The NUS staff lodged a complaint on behalf of NUS on 5 March 2019.

When asked during investigations, Xie denied forging the certification, claiming that it was a photo of the original document shown to him by NUS staff. He only came clean later and was dismissed by AIS on 14 March 2019.

Investigations later revealed that AIS may have hired Xie, albeit on a lower salary scale, if he had submitted his A Level certificate.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jonathan Tan sought a fine of $4,000, saying that Xie had made an effort to evade detection by asking to submit and rely on his A Level certificate rather than his degree. Xie then falsely claimed that he could be reinstated as an NUS student whenever he wanted to even though he had been academically dismissed.

DPP Tan said that he did not think the harm caused to AIS was so serious in this case as to cross a custodial threshold.

During investigations, Xie had the opportunity to confess but chose to perpetuate his lie, said the DPP. AIS gave Xie a higher renumeration than he deserved, he added.

Xie’s lawyer Teo Choo Kee told the court that when Xie first forged the fake degree in 2016, he had no intention to use it for any fraudulent purpose except to deceive his parents.

Replying to the DPP, Teo said that his client “did not try perpetuate the lie” when he was asked to sign the declaration.

“It was precisely that he felt guilty for having submitted a forged degree that he hesitated and did not go on to insist that certificate was genuine and to be relied on,” said Teo. Xie then made a “half-hearted” statement to say that he had not yet graduated, but he was “obviously admitting that he did not graduate”, added Teo.

When District Judge Edgar Foo noted that the issue over culpability and sentencing might have to go to a Newton hearing, Teo said his client did not wish to pursue the point.

Teo, who sought for a fine of the same amount as the prosecution, said his client had not been aware of the different pay grades when he joined AIS.

For fraudulently using a forged document as genuine, Xie could have been jailed for up to four years, or fined, or both.

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