Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — In the city of Nukus, a corruption scheme related to professional certification exams has been uncovered by the State Security Service in cooperation with the Department for Combating Economic Crimes.

A teacher at a general education school was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of US$1,000. The money was handed over by a colleague from Chimbay district in exchange for assistance in passing the professional certification exam. It was later established that the teacher was acting on the instructions of the school's deputy director.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the deputy director had been systematically collecting money from teachers over a period of time, with payments ranging from US$1,000 to US$1,500. These transactions were meticulously recorded in personal notebooks and on separate sheets of paper. Over 100 instances of bribe-taking were identified.

The investigation also confirmed the involvement of a senior methodologist from the Department for the Evaluation of Knowledge and Qualification of Teachers under the Ministry of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. This individual voluntarily handed over US$10,450, which had been collected from teachers in exchange for assistance in passing state certification.

Furthermore, it was discovered that an officer of the National Guard had exhibited gross negligence in the performance of official duties, allowing testing to proceed without properly verifying the identity of participants and failing to prevent the use of mobile phones during the exam.

Authorities have determined that the money collected through this scheme was distributed among its participants.

A criminal case has been initiated under paragraph "g" of part 2 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (accepting bribes). Investigative procedures are currently underway.