Li Fu-chih (
"Due to mysophobia, I did leave the examination room for a short while to wash my hands during each exam session," he said.
"I understand that simply being absent has violated regulations [set out by the examination committee]. For this reason I am willing to receive punishment," Li added.
Mysophobia is a clinical condition in which sufferers say they cannot tolerate the presence of dirt -- and which often manifests itself in obsessive-compulsive behavior such as constant hand-washing.
But Li was adamant that he had no criminal intent.
"I have not revealed the content of any examination papers," Li said.
The accusations were made on Monday by a parent of one of the students, who claimed to have witnessed an exam monitor carrying examination papers out of a test center at Kaohsiung Senior High School prior to the exams.
According to the tip-off, during Sunday and Monday -- when the Joint University Entrance Examinations were held -- the monitor was seen passing documents to a stranger waiting outside the test center, who then disappeared after receiving the papers.
After being informed of the event, the Joint University Entrance Examination Committee immediately launched an investigation on Monday.
The committee discovered that the number of examination papers in the test room watched over by the monitor in question was found to be one copy short in each of four subjects and two copies were missing in another subject.
The incident, which is believed to be the first of its kind ever reported, has caused a stir among parents, students and educators.
When questioned about the missing papers yesterday, Li evaded direct answers, saying that to his knowledge, exam papers were significant before the exams, while only answer sheets were considered important afterward.
But he admitted that it was due to his negligence that the missing exam papers were not reported immediately.
Li's co-monitor during the examinations, identified only by his family name of Wu, said that he had noted his colleague's temporary absence during each exam session.
Nonetheless, the duration, just one or two minutes each time, was so brief that he did not object, Wu said, adding that he didn't notice Li carrying anything each time he left.
Four photographs -- claimed to have been taken by the witness who made the tip-off -- were shown to the public yesterday. The pictures were all long-distance shots and showed only the back and profile of the suspect waiting outside.
No image of the alleged "handing over of examination papers" was caught, and the photographer said he was unable to identify the persons in the photos.
The case is currently under investigation by authorities in Kaohsiung, said Liu Wei-chi (劉維琪), President of National Sun Yat-sen University and a committee member in charge of this year's Joint University Entrance Examinations.
He apologized for the occurrence of the incident and vowed to look further into the matter and to issue a detailed report as soon as possible.
RSS