Bribes for forged Appointment Letters in National schools

The Ministry of Education ( MoE) has launched an inquiry into a scam, where 63 forged Letters of Appointment ( LoA) of non academic staff were issued for National schools in the Northern Province, after collecting large sums of money as brokering fees, said State Minister of Education V. S. Radhakrishnan.

“As far as I am aware, there isn't such a significant number of LoAs issued by the MoE recently. When we looked into this, we ascertained that all of them were bogus LoAs, with the Additional Secretary’s signature forged. An immediate investigation into this scam has been ordered by the Ministry,” State Minister Radhakrishnan told the Sunday Times.

The matter came to light when he visited the North this week to participate in Ministry initiatives, when Principals of some prominent National schools brought to his notice of newly issued LoAs, presumably by the MoE in Colombo.

When National schools in Jaffna such as Chavakachcheri Hindu College received a bundle of 21 LoAs of non academic staff, within a short space of time, the school administration brought it to the attention of the Education authorities, and directed to hold confirmation, until verifications are concluded.

According to preliminary investigations launched by the MoE, all 63 appointments were for non academic staff, and only the Ministry of Public Administration is authorised to issue such LoAs.

All 63 bogus appointees, a majority of who are unemployed graduates and those in the private sector, are believed to have paid brokering fees varying from Rs 350,000 to Rs 500,000, to individuals involved in the scam network, to secure their forged LoAs.

As far as I am aware, there isn't such a significant number of LoAs issued by the MoE recently. When we looked into this, we ascertained that all of them were bogus LoAs, with the Additional Secretary’s signature forged. An immediate investigation into this scam has been ordered by the Ministry