The Set International School (SIS) in Battambang city’s Prek Preah Sdech commune closed Monday after the school’s owner and directors fled Sunday night with tuition fees and staff salaries, according to police.
Provincial minor crime police chief Mean Lay said 43 people, including the school’s staff and parents of students, filed complaints against SIS on Monday and Tuesday to reclaim their lost money.
“We sent lawsuits to the provincial prosecutors today [Wednesday],” Mr. Lay said yesterday. He said police are searching for the four escapees—school directors Phak Dei, 40, and Meas Sombath, 51, deputy director Soun Somphos, 41, and owner, Sun Pheak Kdei, 40—a former aide to Senate President Chea Sim.
SIS owed money to parents, staff, teachers, and about $6,000 to $7,000 to a gas station for the gas it used to transport students to and from the school, Mr. Lay said.
Soum Borat, a mathematics teacher at SIS, was one of those who filed a complaint. “The school owes me and other staff two months salary,” he said.
Prel Sar Em, a mother of two SIS students who also filed a complaint, said she paid the school $700—the cost of one year’s tuition—a couple of weeks ago, but “now they took all the money and ran away without telling me and other families anything.”
Battambang provincial education department chief Ngee Sem said Mr. Kdei applied for a license with the Ministry of Education to open SIS in 2010. “The school didn’t have enough money to stay in businesses, so they ran without telling anyone,” he said.
