On Dec. 27, Lebanese security forces arrested a prominent official at the Ministry of Education to investigate suspicions of corruption in equating the certificates of Iraqi students. Around 20 days later, Amal Shaaban, head of the ministry’s Equivalency Department, was released, only to be informed of her dismissal based on a decision signed by Minister of Education Abbas Al-Halabi.
Iraqi sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Shaaban’s dismissal came “in response to pressure exerted by Lebanese and Iraqi parties that threatened several times to stop the aid they provide to the ministry and public schools.”
The incident revealed why Iraqis were clamoring to study at Lebanese universities, sparking a debate about whether Shaaban was a “scapegoat” used to put an end to illicit dealings between influential powers in Baghdad and Beirut.
Suspicions in the case arose at two instances: The first relates to accepting forged high school certificates issued in Baghdad and validated in Beirut, and the other pertains to granting of university and higher education certificates without students attending classes, in exchange for sums of money.
The story began in Iraq, when Shiite parties that assumed power after 2003 discovered that they did not have administrative teams qualified enough to hold advanced government positions.
Iraq’s interests coincided with interests of influential forces in Lebanon that were trying to maximize educational resources as part of an agreement between the two countries that allowed the delivery of oil in exchange for medical and educational services. Thus, Iraqi students poured into Lebanon, which opened more branches of Lebanese universities, and established others specifically for this purpose, while a network of Iraqi brokers arose in Beirut to handle the illegal paperwork.
In Beirut, Amal Shaaban is trying to prove that the decision to dismiss her from her position is illegal, while it is difficult to confirm her innocence or involvement in this file that has lingered for years.
A source close to Shaaban’s legal team explained that she is not seeking to return to her job, “but all she wants is to show that the Minister of Education’s decision is illegal, and then she will submit her resignation from the post.”
A legal source informed of the investigations expected that a decision by the investigating judge will reveal “dozens of forged Iraqi certificates that passed through the Ministry of Education under the influence of political pressure.”
According to the source, the investigations will not be limited to the Ministry of Education, but will include a number of universities where Iraqi students were enrolled before the high school certificates they obtained in their country were equated. Many of those certificates were forged.
The source pointed to a university close to the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, which attracted the largest number of Iraqi students and granted them - within a period of two years - certificates in graduate studies and doctorates that exceeded the total amount of certificates issued across the country in that period of time, raising suspicions.
Moreover, the majority of Iraqis, who applied for the equivalency of certificates and enrollment in Lebanese universities, are employees of Iraqi state institutions. They submitted requests for the equivalency without coming to Lebanon in exchange for huge sums of money, as these certificates allowed them to be promoted in their jobs and benefit from a significant increase in their salaries.
On the other hand, Iraqi sources informed of the investigations say that Beirut has turned into a hub for “laundering degrees,” even for ordinary youths who are not affiliated with political parties.
Simultaneously, a network of Iraqi brokers emerged in Beirut to facilitate “the paperwork.” Some of them enjoy political cover from the pro-Iran Shiite Coordination Framework parties in Iraq and work in Lebanon.
A reliable source from the Iraqi Ministry of Education said their mission was to pass on false secondary school certificates brought by Iraqi students to have them equalized in Beirut in preparation for their admission to Iraqi universities.
The source added that Iraqi authorities have always failed to track down the secondary certificates that have been equated in Lebanon, and the authenticity of most of them is difficult to verify.
According to the testimony of the former Iraqi official, the Iraqi brokers developed a wide network of connections in Beirut extending from “Iraqi embassy employees to leaders in the Amal Movement, and junior officials in the Ministry of Education.”
In July 2021, Iraq signed an agreement with Lebanon to sell one million tons of heavy fuel oil at the global price, with payment being in services and goods.
Four months later, the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education summoned its cultural attaché in Beirut as part of an investigation into the issue of private Lebanese universities granting fake certificates in exchange for money to hundreds of Iraqis, including representatives and officials, a move that prompted the Lebanese Ministry of Education to open its own investigation.
According to AFP, Iraqi students were enrolled at 14 universities in Lebanon, but the number of students at the Modern University of Management and Science, the Islamic University of Lebanon, and Jinan University alone reached 6,000 out of a total of 13,800 Iraqi students.
The Iraqi investigation ended with a halt to dealing with the three universities, according to an Iraqi statement issued on November 11, 2021.
With the formation of the government of Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani at the end of 2022, Iraqi Shiite parties retreated from the university degree market in Lebanon, and the Ministry of Higher Education, led by Naeem Al-Aboudi, encouraged Iraqi students to study in Iraqi private universities, even as he himself holds a degree from the Islamic University of Beirut.
