West Midlands Police has announced that a Chinese interpreter has been jailed for helping driving test candidates cheat on theory exams in a scam that’s believed to have netted him up to £100,000.
Interpreter Peter Hui was approved by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to guide foreign applicants through the exam and provide a Mandarin voice-over for its multiple choice questions and answer options.
However, a joint West Midlands Police and DSA investigation revealed Hui had helped more than 200 candidates pass by agreeing a cheat’s code, which involved him saying “shi” – Mandarin for “yes” – before reading out the answer he believed was correct.
DSA officials became suspicious of the increased number of prospective drivers choosing to be represented by the 55-year-old interpreter as his client list expanded rapidly towards the end of 2011 and into 2012.
They appointed their own Mandarin language expert to assess audio recordings taken from 27 of his translations and found he repeatedly used the “shi” prompt to steer candidates to the right answer.
Hui was arrested at the Birmingham test centre on 21st August 2012 and, faced with the evidence, admitted conspiring to defraud the DSA.
On Monday 15th July 15 Hui was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to 12 months in prison.
Police finance investigators will look to recover cash and assets Hui is believed to have gained illegally.
This is believed to be the first time an interpreter has been jailed for such a fraud.
Two candidates who admitted paying Hui to help them cheat also admitted a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud and were ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and pay £100 costs.
Theory test candidates that cannot speak or read English can ask for a ‘voice-over’ in one of 21 different languages provided by the DSA-approved interpreters.
Furthermore, on 10th July officers from West Midlands Police’s ECU arrested an Urdu interpreter suspected of helping bus and lorry drivers cheat on theory tests. He was bailed till a date in September pending detailed enquiries.