A scam has surfaced in the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan wherein the commission granted million of dollars to send academic scholars from all over the country abroad for attending fake/bogus international conferences.
Investigations has revealed that an organised group, which is working worldwide, first managed to collect contact details of faculty members of varsities and later on sent fake/fraudulent invitation of international conferences via emails which, according to the fraudulent emails, were organised and funded by the United Nations (UN).
In emails, it was directed to candidates that if they want to participate in a UN-sponsored international conference for free, they should get permission from their representative heads. When interested scholars applied for participation in the conference, they were informed to pay $700 dollars or $500 dollars on account of accommodation, meal and hotel rent.
As per HEC rules and regulations, when any teacher of a varsity gets permission from their representative head for attending any conference then he/she can claim expenses from the HEC for his stay during the conference. The heads of educational institutions endorsed that the said person was going to attend international conference abroad and he/she needed money for expenses. Some of the candidates came back to the country after attending conferences and later claimed expenses from the HEC.
It was proved that many academic scholars from all over the country got invitation of international conference through emails and after getting permission of their representative heads, they went abroad to attend the conferences but when they reached their destination, they were informed that no such UN-funded or sponsored conference was taking place and they fell been deceived by some fake invitations.
However, the victims never felt worried as they came back after spending few days abroad and later applied for the expenses and got money from the HEC.
“Global financial crises is one of my favorite topics and I was very excited that I have got an opportunity to present my viewpoint on financial crises before the delegates, who came to attend a UN organised conference in London but later I came to know that it was a fraud,” said Karachi University Business School (KUBS) Chairman Dr Abdul Rehman Zaki.
“Karachi University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser called me one day and assigned me to attend an international conference organised by the UN in London and to give presentation on world financial and economic crises”.
“Many academic scholars who fell victim to this fraud applied for expenses to the HEC as they returned to their country.”
“Some of KU teachers fell victim to this fraud,” ex-chairman Department of Public Administration Dr Akhtar Baloch said. “Initially, the members of this organised group told the candidates that conference would be funded by the UN but later on they demand up to $700 dollars on account of accommodation and meals. After they got the money, they would immediately stop the communication.”
When contract, KU VC Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser said: “I can not recall exactly which teacher come to me for getting permission to attend the conference abroad. I have no idea that many varsity teachers have been befooled. If any professor gets my permission for attending any conference abroad then he/she is entitled to claim expenses which take place during the event,” Dr Qaiser added.
“It is strange that KU teachers have been victims of this fraud as they never reported to me. I sign number of files in a day and I can not recall how many teachers claimed expenses from the HEC.”
Despite repeated calls, HEC Chairman Javed Laghari could not be reached for comments.
