President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered that certification
be proved of an honorary doctorate from Oxford University which his interior
minister claims to have, Iran's official IRNA news agency said Wednesday.
Newly-appointed Interior Minister Ali Kordan had earlier this week claimed to
have an honorary doctorate in law from the university, which the British
institution categorically denied.
Since then the minister has been under fire. Presentation of faked documents -
especially in governmental organizations - is a crime and offenders face
imprisonment.
Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi told IRNA that Ahmadinejad ordered the
ministry of higher education to verify the interior minister's certificate.
Fars news agency reported that Ahmadinejad also ordered the verification of
other managers who claim to have academic certificates from abroad.
Kordan has reportedly sent a representative to Oxford and follow up the case
and even employed a lawyer, apparently to sue Oxford University over the denial
and confront the campaign against him.
Rahimi hoped that following verification by the education ministry "this
unpleasant issue" would come to an end.
Ahmadinejad's press advisor, Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, said last week that if the
certificate was really faked, any misuse would be a crime and should be dealt
with by a relevant court. He added however that Kordan should be given time to
reply to the charges.
The presidential press advisor further said that if necessary,
"also the president would apologise to the people" for having
introduced Kordan to the parliament as new interior minister, dpa reported.