DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The Dean of the Higher Institute for Laser Research and Applications, Professor Yousef Salman, allegedly resigned from his post, allegedly after his discovery of financial corruption.
The letter was leaked to social media and websites (without bearing a number or date). Fadi Baik al-Sharief, a reporter in the Syrian government-affiliated al-Watan newspaper, described the reasons for the resignation on his Facebook account as “very dangerous and sensitive.”
Some followers of al-Sharief sarcastically mocked his post, as they believe that there is obvious corruption in many other higher institutes across the country. Many also believe that the reason the professor could not be reached for further comment is because he may have been arrested.
The resignation letter stated that during his year-long tenure at the Higher Institute for Laser Research, it became apparent to him that a group of the institute’s professors had stolen and wasted public money by directly purchasing equipment worth 300 million Syrian pounds. This runs contrary to official university procedure, which typically has companies competing for offers to sell equipment.
According to the professor, this came in addition to tremendous internal and external pressures on him from the highest administrative levels to give honors to students who did not deserve them.
The dean mentioned in his letter that he had been under pressure during the formation of student governance committees to pass graduate students who did not deserve to graduate.
Al-Watan newspaper said that they tried to communicate continuously with the dean to verify and confirm the real reason for his resignation, but his phone was out of service.
The newspaper said that they met the head of Damascus University, Mohammed Maher Kabakibi, who assured that no letters of resignation had arrived at his office.
Kabakibi added that they had tried to contact him while he was out of coverage to make sure it was correct, as it did not reach the university management officially and they didn’t not notice a number or date on the letter.
He concluded, “No comment before the audit and taking the necessary actions.”
Vice President of Damascus University for Administrative and Student Affairs Subhi al-Bahri told al-Watan newspaper that the results of an investigation of the letter will be revealed next week.