A Bangladeshi Member of Parliament allegedly hired as many as eight lookalikes to take her place in exams. She has been expelled from university. Tamanna Nusrat, from the ruling Awami League party, has been accused of paying the lookalikes to pretend to be her in at least 13 tests.

The scandal emerged after the private broadcaster Nagorik TV entered a test hall and confronted one of the women posing as Nusrat. She was elected to parliament last year and was studying for a bachelor of arts degree with the Bangladesh Open University (BOU).

The university head, MA Mannan said, “We expelled her because she has committed a crime. A crime is a crime. We have cancelled her enrolment. She will never be able to get admitted here again.”

A college official added, “The proxy students were protected by the MP’s musclemen when they sat for the tests. Everybody knew it but nobody uttered a word because she is from a very influential family.”

Test fraud, cheating and leaking of question papers ahead of exams are common in Bangladesh, prompting authorities to cancel results frequently .

Source: AFP