A 34-year-old manager with a wood-based company was shocked when she received three statements from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) last December, stating that she has borrowed RM25,000.

The statements stated that five payments of RM5,000 each had been made to Tee Chai Chin from 2001 to 2003, ostensibly while she was a student at the Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar), a local private university.

However, Tee said she had only attended classes for one semester from July 2000, and had never applied for a PTPTN loan.

She had signed up for a four-year business administration bachelor's degree course but could only complete one semester because she could not keep up with both work and study.

Tee said she called up PTPTN and was told that her particulars in its statements had been provided by Unitar. She then took the advice of a PTPTN official to write to PTPTN and Unitar to seek clarification.

Last month, she received a copy of a letter from Unitar, addressed to PTPTN. The letter dated Jan 20 and entitled 'Refund of students' loan' listed the names of Tee and 25 others, their identity card numbers and the outstanding amount of their 'loan' ranging between RM4,600 and RM25,572.

"The following students (listed in the letter) have terminated their studies at Unitar. We hereby attach a cheque for RM446,783.07 as the balance of loan held by Unitar for the students," stated the letter, a copy which was made available to malaysiakini .

The letter showed that Unitar refunded RM24,619 as 'balance of loan' on Tee's behalf to PTPTN, but there were no details to explain the discrepancy in the figure - given that Tee was said to have borrowed RM25,000.

"All these years I have never received any payment or statement from PTPTN until last December. I have no clue as to what has transpired as I never signed any agreement with PTPTN and I paid for my tuition fee for that semester," said an infuriated Tee.

"This is very unfair. I believe there is corruption involved. I hold Unitar and the PTPTN management responsible for this."

She alleged her particulars had been misused without her consent, but was not sure whether the other 25 ex-Unitar students were in a similar predicament.

"PTPTN has said it has an outstanding arrears of RM7 billion owed by loan defaulters, but has it considered the possibility that the defaulters might had their particulars misused?" Tee asked.

PTPTN, Unitar response

Responding, PTPTN's enforcement and collection head Mohd Rusdi Ismail stressed that the corporation would not issue any loan without any agreement signed between student and PTPTN, as well as the university's verification of the student status to support the application.

Prior to 2003, the PTPTN loan was channeled to applicants through their university, which is responsible for disbursing the money to students after deducting their tuition fees. It is also obliged to verify the status of the students before each disbursement.

The system was changed after students complained about delays in disbursement. The corporation now banks in the payment directly into the applicant's bank account

Unitar president Dr Syed Othman Alhabashi denied the university has misused students' particulars to apply for the education loan in order to pocket the money. He also ruled out initiating an internal probe into Tee's allegations.

"I doubt it (the allegation)... it is impossible. Why should we (do so)? We are very transparent. But the question now is whether is she liable to pay the money. If we have settled it for her already, then there is nothing to complain about," he said when met at the university.

Unitar vice-president Dr Sheikh Ghazali Abod, who oversees the university's operations, said that Tee could not have made use of the 'loan' since she was in the university for just four months - and approval of loan applications to PTPTN usually takes more than that.

However he could not explain why Tee had received the PTPTN statements.

"Even in the 'worst case scenario' that her identity was misused and her signature was forged, she would have been informed at a certain stage during that period (2001-2003)," he said.

"But many students do not inform the university when they drop out, partly because we operate on a 'virtual university' concept. (Since we are unaware of their status), the university still considers them to be students."

When contacted for a response, Tee said she did not inform Unitar that she had dropped out, but insisted that this does not change the situation as to why she is listed as a borrower.

Issue of refund

Asked about the refund of half a million ringgit to PTPTN, Sheikh Ghazali said this represented the amount withheld by the university in the case of students who failed or who had terminated their studies. He claimed there was no connection between the refund and Tee's complaint letter.

A subsequent check by malaysiakini at the PTPTN office on Tuesday revealed that Tee's status was still listed as having defaulted on RM25,000.

The check also showed a similar result for another ex-Unitar student who was listed among the 26 in the Unitar letter dated Jan 20.

According to an employee at the enquiry counter, the data in the system is up to date and that it usually takes a maximum of three days for any new payments to be recorded.

When told of the results of the check, Tee vowed to pursue the matter, saying: "I felt I have been cheated."

Unitar was set up in 1997 as the country's first Multimedia Super Corridor-status virtual university. It provides education though online technology and facilitator-based tutorials or academic meetings.

The chancellor is Rahah Mohd Noah, mother of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and wife of Malaysia's second prime minister, the late Abdul Razak Hussein.

The university is wholly owned by public listed company KUB Malaysia Bhd, whose chairperson Hassan Harun is also Unitar chairman and a former Umno supreme council member. He has been a member of the PTPTN board of directors since 1998.