SINGAPORE: The registered owner of the Brookes Business School, Benny Yap, has engaged top criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan to act for him.
Mr Subhas told Channel NewsAsia that he will handle the civil and criminal charges levelled against his client.
Mr Yap faces action from Australian university RMIT for offering degree courses without authorisation. He also faces a civil suit from students trying to recover their fees.
This after the Brookes Business School was ordered to shut down by the Education Ministry for peddling fake degrees.
Mr Subhas said Mr Yap, who has spent more than S$1 million to pay his students, has repaid the school fees of about 50 students. Some students have also been transferred to other study schemes.
Mr Subhas said: “I don’t think it is going to be a long drawn—out battle because the issues are quite clear. It is a matter of looking at the legal positions of some of the students.
"As far as our client is concerned, he does not want any of his students to lose out. If he can’t pay them the money, he’ll try to make alternative arrangements for them to go to some other universities who will take them in."
Meanwhile, one of the students trying to recover the fees said he and a group of 50 others will go ahead with a legal suit against Mr Yap.
"Mike" who came on Channel NewsAsia’s Talking Point said he does not believe Mr Yap is sincere in helping them.
He said: "Of course I will tell them about this but I’m very sure that they will still consider taking legal action because Benny Yap has promised a lot of things which have not materialised so far. He has cheated us many times and we don’t trust him anymore."
Channel NewsAsia understands that some former students of the Brookes Business School who are currently working have had their pay severely cut by employers, because of the fake degrees.
Some who are in managerial positions saw cuts of nearly 50 per cent. Others were demoted or had their services terminated, while some students with the fake degrees resigned before their employers found out.