KSA Embassy in India to hire special firm to spot fake degrees

In a bid to clamp down on fraud, the Saudi Embassy in Delhi plans to hire a special firm to verify the qualifications of Indians seeking work in the Kingdom, according to Saudi diplomatic sources.
The sources said recently that the embassy embarked on this plan because many Indian universities have not responded to inquiries about the qualifications of workers. The company’s role would be to expedite these procedures.
It also comes in the wake of the rising number of forged education certificates presented by expatriate workers to employers in the Kingdom.
Hamad Al-Shaqawi, chairman of the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE), confirmed earlier that the organization had discovered around 1,700 forged certificates in the sector.
The council had started to verify the engineering certificates of Saudis and expatriates in 2010. Al-Shaqawi said that around 157 forged certificates have been discovered over the past three months.
The SCE had said it would publish the names of people with forged certificates on its website. Al-Shaqawi said that the punishment for forgery is a two-year prison sentence and releasing the names of perpetrators publicly.
He said the council often informs companies that they are employing engineers with forged certificates. However, companies often do not respond to calls for their dismissal, he said.