The Ministry of Education has drafted a letter of invitation to Michael Yu, the scandal-wracked owner of two Singapore International Teaching Consultancy schools in Cambodia, to answer questions regarding their operations, an official said Thursday.
News reports are continuing to flood out of Vietnam regarding an arrest warrant issued for Yu after all of SITC’s branches in Vietnam closed abruptly last month and he disappeared.
Authorities in Vietnam say he is suspected of defrauding teachers and students out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to The Associated Press.
“We are concerned, but so far Michael Yu is good in Cambodia,” said You Virak, deputy director of the Ministry of Education’s higher education department.
“We will send the invitation to [SITC] to clarify how the Cambodian school is running,” he said.
Recent media reports have stated that Vietnamese authorities and Interpol are searching for Yu.
According to a Vietnam News Agency report, Yu left Vietnam for Cambodia on Jan 9.
Keo Vanthan, first deputy director of Interpol at the Interior Ministry, said he was unaware of any arrest warrant and did not know whether Yu was in the country.
“If [Vietnamese officials] suspect that he is in Cambodia, they might contact us,” Keo Vanthan said.
A Vietnamese Interpol official told AP on condition of anonymity that Yu holds passports from Taiwan, Singapore and Burkina Faso.
Hem Heng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he was unaware of the case. A Vietnamese Embassy official said he also knew nothing about the case, while an SITC official in Phnom Penh did not return phone calls or reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
Brandon Davis, a Canadian national living in Phnom Penh who worked as a teacher at SITC’s head office in Ho Chi Minh City last year, said he was told in July 2005 that Yu was no longer in charge of the schools.
“There was one point when pay was delayed by a day. A meeting was called for all foreign staff. We were told that SITC was under new management,” Davis said.
“It was very much a feel-good, don’t-worry-about-the-doors-closing meeting,” Davis added. “We were told that Michael Yu had nothing to do with SITC anymore.”
But despite Yu’s reported departure, Davis claimed that the school’s standards remained less than perfect.
“SITC was the perfect get-rich-quick school. Their marketing department was much bigger than their education department,” he said.
“They had huge marketing campaigns offering one year courses for $100,” he added. “As long as there was a foreigner in the classroom then they were happy. There was no curriculum.”
