The Lebanese University of Hadath, Section 1, in the suburbs of Beirut. (Credit: Lebanese University's website)
BEIRUT — Two senior employees and a student have been arrested in connection with the fraud scandal engulfing the Faculty of Law at the Lebanese University (LU) since early October, L’Orient-Le Jour reported Friday, citing a source close to the investigation.
The investigation was launched by the State Security service on orders from the Mount Lebanon appellate public prosecutor, after suspicions first raised by the Kuwaiti Embassy that students may have received grades higher than they deserved during the second round of exams for the 2024-2025 academic year.
In a statement published Friday, State Security cited “replacement of exam papers, forgery of professors’ signatures and alteration of grades, either directly on the answer sheets or through the electronic grading system.”
The statement added that “evidence was presented to the professors and employees concerned, who confirmed the existence of these manipulations, affecting a large number of Lebanese and foreign students.”
According to the same statement, “employees M.M. and T.B. were questioned and admitted to the charges against them, while Lebanese student M.H. was arrested for participating in the offense.”
The employees placed in custody are the director of the relevant faculty (Section 1), Mojtaba Mortada, and the secretary general of the Faculty of Law in Hadath, Tarek Zakaria Bakri, who had been suspended by LU during the investigation. The student who was arrested is accused of having manipulated the exam papers, thereby contributing to the fraud.
“The individuals arrested, along with the seized items, have been referred to the competent public prosecutor for the necessary legal proceedings,” State Security concluded.
