Within the last month, one Binghamton University professor has been convicted of currency smuggling in Kazakhstan, hospitalized for taking counterfeit medication and just recently allowed to return home to the United States.
“I will never go back to Kazakhstan,” Victor Skormin, a distinguished engineering professor, said. “I also decided that I will reduce my traveling — drastically reduce.”
Skormin was in the country to recruit students for BU’s graduate school and meet with Kazkh professors at different universities. He was detained in Kazakhstan Sept. 29, on charges of currency smuggling for failure to file a claim on the $14,221 he was carrying in American currency. Skormin said he hadn’t realized he was at the customs station and that no one at the airport corrected his mistake. It was Skormin’s sixth trip abroad in the last year.
“It was very nice to get home after these long weeks,” he said.
Previously, Skormin had said that he was arrested because he refused to bribe the customs officials.
While held in Kazakhstan, Skormin ran out of medication for his diabetes and high blood pressure, and was hospitalized for two days.
“I spent more than 30 days under house arrest and out of these 30 days, two days in the hospital,” he said.
Skormin was found guilty of currency smuggling Oct. 24 and forced to pay fines equal to the $14,000 he carried with him in the airport. According to Skormin, he was fined $11,000 out of the original $14,200, but then forced to pay a separate $2,000 fine and around $1,000 for legal expenses.
Jim Moronski, an adjunct lecturer at BU, didn’t think Skormin would get back so quickly.
“It’s very good he was able to get back as soon as he was,” Moronski said. “If he didn’t have connections, he would’ve been there for a long time.”
Skormin received assistance from the president of a university he visited during his stay. The president was also a member of Kazakhstan’s supreme court, according to Skormin.
Moronski, a good friend of Skormin’s, had been working to secure the professor’s return. Skormin said he considered Moronski to be 90 percent of the reason why he was able to come home so quickly.
Initially, both Skormin and Moronski worried that the former wouldn’t be able to leave Kazakhstan for at least another few weeks.
“I’m very glad that he’s back, and students are glad that he’s back, too,” Moronski said.
Students Joseph Depew and Christine Horgan both said they were happy Skormin was able to return.
Horgan, a senior majoring in computer science, said that she was involved with setting up a Web site to get Skormin home — even though she had never met him.
”I’m glad that I was able to do a small part that may have helped his cause,” Horgan said.
Depew, a senior electrical engineering major, said he was pleased, but that the process took too long. According to Depew, Skormin could have been back earlier “if the administration had taken action quickly and aggressively.”
Skormin returned home Monday, Nov. 3, and has since resumed teaching his classes.
BU spokeswoman Gail Glover said the University wished the professor well.
“We are pleased and relieved that Professor Skormin is safely back in the United States,” she said. “We hope that his health continues to improve.”
After going back on his regular medication, Skormin said he was feeling better and repeated how thankful he was to be home.
“As a matter of fact, I just enjoyed speaking English,” Skormin said. “After not speaking the language for so long.”
According to Moronski, Skormin plans to speak on campus about his experiences during the last month.