The six, from the Allianze University College of Medical Sciences (AUCMS), asked whether the insolvency office took their plight into account when coming to its decision.
They said an estimated 100 students had lost “a lot of money” following the sudden closure of AUCMS 10 years ago.
Also affected, they said, were the college’s staff who lost their jobs, while contributions due to EPF were not made on their behalf.
The college, founded and headed by the same academician in 2012, was forced to shut down after it ran into financial difficulties. Students were forced to either join other colleges afresh and pay full fees, or quit their medical studies.
Spokesperson for the six, Dr K Raguvaran, said the insolvency department is obliged to safeguard the interest of creditors and report to them recommendations made by the debtor in respect of the settlement of their dues.
Raguvaran was commenting after UiTM announced earlier this week that the bankrupt had been given “conditional” approval by the insolvency department to take up the position as head of its cardiovascular and thoracic surgery department.
“The 2019 letter we have seen did not make reference to the academic being a head of department. Also, the letter contains no conditions, and neither is there any mention of how he is to settle our losses.
“His bankruptcy is directly related to the closure of AUCMS. We have not gotten a single sen back from the college until today,” he told FMT.
In a new development, FMT confirmed yesterday that the academic no longer heads the department but is still engaged as “professor”.
Raguvaran said many of the AUCMS ex-students took loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) which the academic said the college would settle once they completed their five-year course.
“We are still paying off our PTPTN loans which were given to the university directly but not used to finance our studies,” he said.
According to reports, the university acquired Trent Park House in north London from Middlesex University in 2023 for £30 million (RM168 million at that time) to open a branch campus, but the building and campus were never developed.
The closure of the college is speculated to be linked to the collapse of that deal.
Raguvaran said the insolvency department should revoke the conditional letter immediately and tell the academic to start settling what he owed the students.
“We have suffered a great deal from the closure which was the result of mismanagement and false promises of scholarships which never materialised. We were asked to pay first in stages with assurances that a certain foundation will reimburse the fees.
“This never happened and we were sent to other public and private universities where we had to start afresh and pay fees all over again.
“We are shocked that he has been allowed to take up this senior post in UiTM,” he said.
FMT has reached out to the academic and the Penang insolvency department for comment.