IDA fake degree case. Who is abetting the crime?

Nisha Padmanabhan, a new citizen employed by IDA as an Application Consultant has claimed to have a MBA from a degree mill called Southern Pacific University. IDA has replied that they employed her based on her first degree from a reputable university, Mumbai University. The issue here is the false claim of having a MBA that is equivalent to a piece of junk in her resume. Is this cheating, lying, is this a crime? If it is not, case closed. If it is a crime, why is there no action taken against the culprit, and who is supposed to take action against her?

When a crime is committed, in this case it is expected that IDA, the organisation that discovered the crime should take all necessary actions to terminate her employment and to make a police report. So far nothing is being done and the culprit is presumably still employed by IDA, standing for Infocomm Development Authority, a govt organisation, an authority within the govt organisation. Is IDA condoning the act?

Presumably a crime is committed. I stand corrected as IDA did not seem to think anything is wrong with it. So I am not sure if there is any wrongdoing in this case. And if there is no wrongdoing, please forgive me for raising this issue. What is a crime and what is not a crime, what is a petty crime, what is a serious crime, the whole thing is so grey that it is so difficult to tell. Really, it is so difficult to tell. Perhaps one can deduce the severity of this incident from circumstantial evidence. The main media does not think this is newsworthy, an indication that there is nothing to it, no crime. The Police are not taking any action, so no crime. Or perhaps the Police have not been informed or no one makes any police report, or the number of police reports is less than 20.

Ok, after my clarifications, and to protect myself from making wrongful allegation that there is a crime but actually no crime, lets assume that it is a crime, assume only hor, forging or making false claims on one’s resume and qualifications, the law and legal processes would have been activated and the law enforcement officers would be moving their butts, like the very serious case of Amos Yee when 8 officers were reported to have arrested him in his home and handcuffed him before taking him away. Looks like this case, if there is a case, is going to be a very minor case, a minor infringement of the law.

And MOM and ICA also did not say or do anything. Aren’t they the regulating and approving agencies for legitimate job seekers and new citizens in the country? Aren’t these agencies supposed to police and regulate such ‘minor’ infringement of our employment and immigration regulations?

Do I see that a crime has been committed and no one is taking any action? Do I see the exposure of a forgery or false declaration and the enforcement agencies not doing anything, or not wanting to do anything? My past experience in HR says this is a police case.

But of course, our law enforcement agencies are not sleeping. They are dutyl bound to enforce and uphold the law and regulations, and if something is wrong, a crime being committed, they will jump off their butts and act on it immediately. The Amos Yee case is a good example of super efficiency of the Police and the judicial system.

Can I therefore conclude that there is nothing wrong with this case and it is all a red herring, a wild goose chase? Maybe a minister would make statement that everything is in order and we should move on. Maybe some authoritative bloggers, with good connections, would say just laugh it off. Maybe someone would warn the social media and bloggers not to spread rumours.

Is there a case or no case? I am a layman and just wondering aloud. And to the best of my judgement, from all the circumstantial evidence and the silence from the authority, there is no case. Case closed. Let’s move on. No crime has been committed. There is no cheating, or no intent to cheat. Oh, for this last part, someone from IDA commented that this Nisha took the MBA from the degree mill for fun or something like that. Putting the MBA in her CV must also be for fun.

I have wasted so much time writing about nothing. Really, believe me, trust me. We are a rule of law country. The law is fair and transparent and efficient. What is troubling is, should a hypothetical situation like this occur: The person who saw a crime did nothing, turned a blind eye. The police supposed to apprehend the criminal did nothing. And the regulators did not regulate and allowed the crime to flourish. In simple words, ‘bo cheng hu’.

Who is the real criminal? Or who is abetting the crime?