Jailed for taking test for someone else

An English-Language translator from China who took a language proficiency test here on behalf of someone else was sentenced to five months in jail yesterday.

A recruiter had promised Lina Zhang 7,000 yuan (S$1,515) to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination for someone named Ge Li on Dec 6 last year.

Zhang presented a forged Chinese passport that bore her face and the other person's details at the test venue. The invigilator suspected something amiss with the passport and sounded the alarm.

Yesterday, Zhang, 29, pleaded guilty to cheating by personation. The details of Ge Li's identity and whereabouts are unclear.

The court heard that Zhang received an e-mail last November asking if she was interested in sitting examinations for other foreign nationals. She received the forged passport after agreeing to the offer. Zhang entered Singapore on a social visit pass and cleared immigration using her own passport.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said there was some evidence of syndicate involvement in the case.

In mitigation, defence counsel Edmund Wong said Zhang is married with a three-year-old daughter in China and needed money to treat an abscess in her breast that could be cancerous.

District Judge Wong Choon Ning said Zhang's jail term would have been more than five months if not for her medical condition. She could have been jailed for up to five years and fined.

This article was first published on February 27, 2015.
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