A number of interesting points have come out of this and similar incidents - a number of which have already been referred to. It is worth noting that deliberate falsification on qualifications is by no means exclusive to the aviation industry. There have been many well documented cases of dentists and doctors performing complex surgical procedures on patients without any formal qualifications in their field. It is actually reasonably straight forward to acquire the basic skills required to pretend to be someone you are not if you work in the right sphere. For example, if you are an experienced theatre technician, you can pick up masses of practical tips and then take a chance on getting the experience you need once you have your surgeon's job. Similarly, if you are good as a pilot and a bit of a chancer you can talk your way into anything. In both cases, there has been a generally-accepted belief that you only turn up to an interview with the necessary qualifications.
There are a number of issues here. First of all, to knowingly defraud your airline and your passengers in this way is outrageous. It must be severely punished in order for passengers to retain confidence in the system which governs pilot qualification and recruitment. Without that there is no airline industry. The second issue is that this individual is robbing every professional pilot who has chosen to do it right. They have done the work, proven themselves at every stage of training and been found worthy to have that coveted airline job. I have zero sympathy for this guy, as he is a thief who has robbed every concientious young pilot aspiring to this job. It is my belief that jail is the only appropriate disposal of the case as a warning to others. This is simply intolerable and any loophole in the licensing sytem that permits this must be tidied-up pronto.