Test scandal fugitive nabbed

By Yang Lifei and Li Xinran  |   2008-7-1  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE man involved in the country's biggest exam cheating scandal was returned to northwestern China's Gansu Province yesterday morning after surrendering to police.

Huo Jigang, one of the key figures involved in the scandal, surrendered to police after a nationwide manhunt and was taken back to Tianshui City.

Huo had been spotted by an agricultural official from Yanggu County, in east China's Shandong Province. Huo went on the run when the examinations started on June 7. A task force to probe the scandal was established on June 17.

Police also arrested Zhao Xiaofeng in Tianshui's Qinzhou District. All the suspects involved in the scandal have been detained and the investigation is continuing.

Huo was one of the officials sacked because of involvement in an examination scandal in which students took exams for others in Tianshui, Gansu Province, according to the Oriental Morning Post.

Huo's bureau chief, Yan Zhaoqi, has also been removed from his post, the report said.

The reasons for Yan's dismissal are unclear, but an earlier report by the newspaper said one student who allegedly had someone else sit his national college entrance examination had the same name and age as Yan's son.

Three government officials in Tianshui have been punished for failing to take responsibility for the scandal. Vice Director of Maiji District Wang Xiaoqin and Vice Director of Qinzhou District Jiang Xiaoli were given disciplinary warnings. Tian Bin, vice director of the Tianshui Public Security Bureau, was given a disciplinary demerit, the report said.

Huo had reportedly asked his wife Zhang Yuru and a Shandong middle school teacher, Wei Chengjia, to organize 27 students from Shandong to sit the national college entrance examination for other students in Tianshui.