Russian Higher Attestation Commission Chief Arrested

Chief of the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) of the Science and Education Ministry Felix Shamkhalov has been detained in Moscow. VAK is the government agency responsible for approving all Ph.D. degrees in Russia. However, the accusations against Shamkhalov are related to his business activities in 2006-2009, i.e. before he was appointed the VAK head. The investigators believe that he was a co-owner of a company that obtained a loan from a bank for a real estate development project; instead, the funds were appropriated by the organizers of the scheme. The police say some 350 mln rubles ($12 mln) have been stolen form the bank. The prosecution fo the VAK head takes place on the background of a scandal related to a massive fraud with Ph.D. degrees. A special commission was established in the wake of a scandal related to the Director of Physics and Math School under Moscow State University Andrei Andriyanov. Members of the school Club of graduates filed an appeal to the Higher Attestation Commission, demanding to check the legitimacy of awarding a Ph.D. degree in historical sciences to Andriyanov. Afterwards, the theses by a number of other post graduates were called into question. The commission found out mass violations in the work of the Dissertation Council on historical sciences at Moscow Pedagogical State University. It was established that at least in 17 cases degrees were obtained fraudulently. The head of the University's dissertation council has been fired.

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2121066
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/640796.html
http://lenta.ru/articles/2012/11/27/andrdisser/
http://lenta.ru/news/2013/02/02/danilov/