Fraud ends on sick note

Allegations that Greek students have faked illness, backed by forged medical certificates provided by eminent doctors, in order to transfer from universities abroad to ones at home have led to criminal proceedings.

Every year, a large number of Greek students who are unable to obtain a place at a Greek university, register for courses at foreign universities either as near as Bulgaria or Romania or as far as England and the United States.

Studies abroad are often too costly so parents apply to have their children transferred to a Greek university. Until recently, a transfer without additional exams was only possible for health reasons, so some parents found doctors willing, for a large fee, to certify that their child was suffering from a serious illness requiring their transfer home.

Eleven doctors, some of them university professors, and more than a couple of dozen students are implicated in the fraud but it is thought the practice is even more widespread.

The education ministry is leaving things to the justice ministry but education secretary George Papandreou said that "if the charges are proved there is a very clear course to follow. There are rules covering such cases and the senate authorities must see that they are applied".