Riyadh: The University of Jazan in southwest Saudi Arabia took legal action against a blogger who claimed in a post that the university paid $2 million to an institution that ranks colleges and universities.
The university said it was shocked by the accusation on the social platform that it bribed the institution to improve its worldwide ranking, reported Gulf News.
It was earlier reported on several sites the Saudi National Anti-Corruption Commission was informed about a local university that paid $2-million-bribe to an institution based in Australia to enhance its ranking on the list of the best universities worldwide. The reports, however, did not publically name the university.
The reports also said that the matter was taken to Ministry of Education by the commission to look into the financial irregularities and initiate necessary actions against the involved parties.
It was the blogger who claimed on Twitter that it was the University of Jazan.
“A source at the commission denied the report about the $2 million bribe, saying it posted all its news on its website,” Al Marsad news site reported.
The university was praised by online users who supported the institution in reporting the blogger and seeking justice as long as his bribe claim was baseless and lacked credibility.
"If the blogger is making false claims, he should be lashed in public and jailed for spreading false information and targeting an academic institution," Bu Nawas, an online user, said.
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