CNN
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The image that comes to mind when you hear the words “international investigation” is not that of a middle-aged boss at a high school tuition center, but that of a hardened criminal: a murderer, a bank robber, a billion-dollar fraudster.
But that’s who is at the center of a Red Notice issued this week by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which promotes police cooperation between 194 countries.
Po Yuan Nhi, 57, is believed to have fled Singapore After masterminding sophisticated fraud in a Southeast Asian country, The annual GCE O Level exam that students take in their final year of high school.
Poh and her three tutors turned themselves in to police after a court sentenced her to four years in prison for carrying out a fraud that used a system of body cameras, earphones and Bluetooth devices to give answers to students. I couldn’t.
In wealthy city-states, private tuition centers are big business and the pressure for students to perform well can be overwhelming, with monthly fees for established private tuition centers costing up to S$2,000. ($1,500) is not uncommon.
According to early court documents, 57-year-old Po and her three accomplices (her niece Fiona Po Ming, ex-girlfriend Tan Jia Yang, and a Chinese national named Feng Liwen) each received $8,000 from a Chinese man. Paid Singapore dollars ($6,100). Helped 6 students, also from China, aged 17 to 20, pass the GCE exam in 2016 and enter a local university.
of payment A full refund will be given if the student does not pass the exam.
Under Po’s direction, the six students donned skin-colored earbuds, taped cell phones and Bluetooth devices to their bodies, and gave answers from Tan disguised as private school students seated on the same test sheet. I made it possible.
With the help of a hidden camera cell phone taped to his chest, Tan livestreamed questions to Po and two other tutors back at the tuition center.
They growled when the proctor heard an unusual noise coming from one of the students.
After a year-long trial that ended in 2020, Poe was found guilty of 27 counts of wrongdoing and sentenced to four years in prison. and included charges of “inviting to cheat.”
The Singapore police, who have asked Interpol to notify them, said Poe was due to start his sentence in September but did not turn himself in. Her three accomplices all now serve each. prison term, the police said.
“Poe has been convicted of a series of cheating charges in which she conspired with students to cheat on the 2016 GCE O-level exams,” Singapore police said in a statement, adding that local police have responded to her arrest. A warrant was also issued, he added.
“She was ordered to turn herself in to serve her jail term in September 2022, but did not.”
According to Interpol, global law enforcement agencies are called upon to locate and arrest people under red notices pending extradition, extradition, or other legal action.
The case put the spotlight on a school system that is ranked among the best in the world and known for its competitiveness.
The Singapore government has implemented a number of reforms in recent years aimed at easing the mental strain on students who may face immense pressure to perform well.
The GCE O Level exam can be a particularly stressful time as it defines a student’s overall high school performance and determines where local colleges and colleges can be attended. The exams, fully known as General Education Ordinary Level, are national exams in mathematics, science, languages, and humanities.
It is administered jointly by the Cambridge Assessment International Examinations and the Singapore Ministry of Education. These are not the same as his annual GCSE exams in the UK.
The GCE exams are generally taken by 16- and 17-year-old students, and may be taken by individual candidates. The MOE estimates that approximately 30,000 students take the exam each year.
