4 on trial over bogus US uni con

Four defendants, including a retired official and a retired university professor, stood trial Tuesday at Haidian district court accused of fraud, after running a fake teaching program under the guise of a bogus American university.

Feng Shulin, 74, a retired Ministry of Education official, who claimed to have credentials from the Nation University of USA, authorized a Beijing-based private education training center in 2009 to recruit and teach students, according to a court press release, the Beijing News reported.

Feng, who charged the center 180,000 yuan ($28,350) in commission fees, is accused of fraud.

Gong Senlin, 62, a retired professor from a university in Heilongjiang Province, along with another two staff members at the training center, Chou Engui and Li Jiafeng, obtained more than 1.5 million yuan by falsely charging 15 students tuition fees. The money was not returned. The three are accused of illegally operating an uncertified school, the report said.　

Feng told the court he was duped by a man called Cui Yubin in 2007, with whom he signed a contract to become the honorary president of the US university in China. Afterward, he found that the university was fake and then cancelled his contract.

"But I was really tempted by the potential profit," Feng said, "so after cancelling the contract, I still used the identity as the honorary president of the university."

Chou said that they met Feng in 2008 and started a PhD teaching program in finance one year later.

"Not until June 2011 when Cui was investigated for fraud by taking advantage of the bogus Nation University of USA, did we learn the truth," said Chou.

Prosecutors have suggested Feng should receive at least three years in jail, and Gong, Chou and Li should be sentenced to more than five years, the Beijing News said.

Han Yusheng, a professor with the college of law at Renmin University of China, said that the different sentences suggested for the defendants depend on the harm caused by their crimes to society.

"The three who illegally recruited students and cheated them out of money have seriously disrupted social order," he said.

An overseas study consultant, surnamed Zhang, from Beijing JJL Overseas Education Consulting & Service company, said that the Ministry of Education has a website that lists all certified overseas institutions.　

"Students should first go to the website to check to avoid being cheated," she said.