Lee Thean Chye was associate professor of Business Studies at Southern University College (SUC) in Skudai, Johor. According to The Star, he went on a week’s leave beginning Tuesday, a day before the university college’s management announced its probe.
The report said he had submitted his resignation on Wednesday.
SUC principal and president Thock Kiah Wah told The Star that the management had wanted to speak with Thean Chye to get “a clearer picture of the matter”.
Johnson, and his Penang-based money game operator JJPTR, came under public scrutiny on April 25 after news broke that a staggering RM500 million in investments might go up in smoke due to alleged hacking of the company’s accounts.
JJPTR made headlines in major Chinese newspapers when rumours of the hack were confirmed by Johnson, who described it as “the biggest mistake of my life”.
However, the 28-year-old posted on Facebook that he had a plan to repay investors, some as far as Canada, US and China, by mid-May.
According to a separate report by The Star, Johnson appeared to have been generous with his money, donating RM1 million to his old secondary school last August.
The former principal of Heng Ee High School told the daily that Johnson had contributed the money towards the building fund for the school’s new branch in Bayan Baru.
Goh Boon Poh added that he had not known at the time that Johnson was involved in JJPTR. He also recalled being surprised that Johnson had given such a large amount despite his youth.
Although the school often saw former students returning to make donations, it had never received a sum of that size, he told The Star.
“He was very humble as well. He said he has money, but was not very rich. He also said since his alma mater needed money, he wanted to help,” Goh was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said it had not begun any probe into the JJPTR investment scheme as no report had been filed directly with it. Likewise, it said it had not received the police reports filed by investors so far, Sin Chew Daily reported.
The central bank has the power to act against JJPTR under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA) or the Banking and Financial Institutions Act.
The initials of Lee’s company, JJPTR, stand for “jie jiu pu tong ren” which means “salvation for the common people” in Mandarin.
JJPTR, JJ Poor to Rich and JJ Global Network, are the three forex trading entities listed on the website, www.jjptr.com.
However, it was reported that the three companies were among 288 other entities and individuals on Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Consumer Alert list as at Feb 24.
Members of JJPTR are asked to invest between US$25 and US$1,000 (RM110 and RM4,400) and promised a monthly return of 20%.