| By By Amelia Tan & Goh Yi Han | ||
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Mr Benny Yap Chee was arrested by the police last month, said a police spokesman yesterday. He had been out on bail and helping investigations into the matter.
It also means he would have posted surety and undertaken to report to a police station whenever he is told to do so.
But because his former staff and students could not contact him and his flat in Sengkang appeared to be unoccupied, it looked like he had skipped town.
He was called in on June 25, a week after The Straits Times reported that his private school was handing out bogus qualifications from brand-name institutions in Australia and Britain, including the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). He reported to the police again two weeks later.
His two schools – Brookes Business School and Stamford Global Learning Centre – were ordered shut by the Ministry of Education this week.
About 440 students of the two institutions have been left in the lurch, although steps are being taken to transfer them to other schools or to get them refunds.
In a telephone interview with The Straits Times yesterday, Mr Yap, 39, said he had tried his best to respond to text messages from his students but had been busy assisting in the investigations.
‘I am a victim too. I just want to make it clear: I am not missing,’ he said.
Asked how he was helping his former students, he would only say that he and his staff members were trying to get them places in other schools here.
He would neither name these schools nor say whether he was going to give refunds.
He was also tight-lipped on why his neighbours in Sengkang had told The Straits Times that his flat was unoccupied. He would only confirm that he owned the flat, but declined to say more on this ‘private matter’.
He also refuted claims by former employees who said he drove a red Ferrari.
He declared: ‘I’ve never owned a Ferrari. You can check with the Land Transport Authority to confirm this.’
He refused to be pinned down to a time-frame for when he hoped to resolve the matter, and would only say that he could not comment as investigations were ongoing.
The Straits Times tracked down his sister at her terrace house in Hougang yesterday.
She said she rarely saw him, but knew he was helping the police with investigations. She refused to be named.
She added in Chinese: ‘He has no reason to hide anything.’
Their mother, who appeared to be in her 60s, declined comment.
Meanwhile, about 60 former Brookes students are banding together to seek legal advice on getting refunds from Mr Yap. Declining to be named, they said they had engaged lawyers and were looking into suing Mr Yap as a group.
One student said: ‘We need to get someone to assess his assets first. If he does not have enough money to pay all of us, we will have to go to the Small Claims Tribunal. We just want our money back.’
Another said: ‘The whole thing has dragged on for so long. I don’t care if he is charged in court now. I just want my money back so I can enrol in another school and get my degree.’
The Association of Private Schools and Colleges, which is helping with transferring affected students to other schools, has so far processed about 170 applications.
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