34 sent to court for exam cheating claims

İZMİR - Doğan News Agency

A group of people gather in Istanbul’s Taksim square and claim that there is cheating in the Public Personnel Selection Examination exam this year. DHA photo

Following claims applicants cheated on a public personnel exam, 34 people were sent to court while the head of Turkey’s Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) has said the organization does not believe there is any truth to the claims.

“We don’t currently think that the claims are true. We don’t have any evidence yet. If we come up with evidence, we will review it and do what is necessary. Consequently, we need to enhance our security measures and system every second. We are constantly pursuing this, nearly 24 hours a day. But at this moment, it is not possible to say something precise about our future actions,” Ali Demir, the head of ÖSYM, said regarding cheating claims at the recent Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS).

Forty people were detained on accusations that they had formed an organization aimed at cheating on the exam by substituting knowledgeable people for candidates taking the KPSS exam using falsified documents on July 8. The gang allegedly charged candidates a fee of 10,000 to 20,000 Turkish Liras to have skilled imposters take the exam in their place.

Details revealed
Details of the police operation revealed that the gang enabled their clients to obtain jobs in various prestigious state units through fraudulent test taking in exams such as the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS), Public Personnel Language Examination (KPDS) and University Entrance Exam (LYS). It was revealed that the imposters entered various exams under the client’s name in order to get them appointed to important units of the state including the ministries through high test scores. It has been detected that the gang received about 20,000 liras for each job and had 3 million liras collected in their bank accounts so far.

The KPSS educational sciences section was canceled upon allegations of cheating in 2010, however, the investigation into the cheating claims failed to reveal any conclusions.