diploma

By 1926, the school was on the verge of being able to offer diplomas in the liberal arts.

"That was three years ago and now I'm doing a grade eight guitar, which is the highest you can go up to without a diploma."

Nonetheless, research has indicated that having a diploma is better than not having one, regardless of the skills the diploma embodies.

Apart from the corruption case, prosecutors have accused him of a raft of other offences including espionage and forging his university diploma, a qualification that has since been annulled.

He tells me he plays a lot of sport, is learning French and English - a well-thumbed Russian-English dictionary stays by his side throughout our interview - and is racking up high-school diplomas.