Amarjit Singh, the owner of Unique International College transferred $22 million from his business account to his family's account in a single day in November last year, the Federal Court heard.
Acting for ACCC, Norman O’Brien told the court that Mr. Singh was “pouring money into his pockets of his family through a serious manipulation of public revenue.”
Facing allegations of unconscionable conduct in recruiting illiterate and disabled students from Aboriginal missions, Amarjit Singh told the court he was “giving the gift” of education to the 3600 students the college signed up in 2014 and 2015.
But the court has been told that 3138 students did not complete even a single unit of the courses the college recruited them for the cost of $47 million in taxpayers’ money.
Acting for the ACCC, Mr.O'Bryan SC alleged that Mr. Singh's college acted unconscionably to maximise the number of students enrolled in the "spectacularly profitable business" that "was unique in more ways than one".
Mr. Singh denied the allegations and said he was concerned about the progression of students throughout 2015 after he became aware of a completion rate of 6.5 per cent. But he added that he believed the completion rates of his college were in line with the rest of the sector.
In his defence, Mr. Singh said : "We are a genuine education provider," he said. "I know education can change peoples' lives."
The court heard that while the number of students grew more than 9 times in 2014, its staff didn’t.
Mr. Singh said evidence of his staff's support was their presence at the hearing because they believed in his passion for education. He said there were regular training programs.
"I am not saying that I am 100 per cent satisfied, but I am willing to work together with the industry and the department, within the VET sector, to continue to improve," he said.
"It's a learning curve for everyone, for the Department of Education as well," he said.
He told the court that he was unaware of allegations of recruiting students by giving laptops. He said he learned of these allegations through the media.
"It was very sad to see myself on the front page of a paper with so much negative commentary," he said.
ACCC alleged that Unique deliberately recruited Aboriginal employees in order to sell the courses to remote Aboriginal missions.
Mr. Singh said he was very proud of signing up students from remote areas where there were few educational opportunities. And he said he was “overjoyed” to have Aboriginal staff at his college.
