Language center boss detained in fraud probe

Aman who opened a training center in an east China city and promised that students would be sent overseas to teach Chinese has been detained by police, state radio reported yesterday.

Pan Laijun, chairman of New West, had claimed that the center in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, was the world's biggest Chinese language education facility and it would send students to work as Chinese language teachers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and elsewhere, China National Radio reported.

More than 15,000 university students had signed up for the training courses and millions of yuan had been gathered in fees since 2009.

However, New West wasn't approved to export labor and no trainee had been sent abroad, the report said.

Pan pictured a bright future for students who would be able to teach Chinese in Western countries after five months of training and with an annual salary of at least 200,000 yuan (US$30,380).

But the dream was dashed after the company was found to lack government approval to export labor overseas.

New West never exported any Chinese teachers and didn't return money to students, a shareholder of New West, surnamed Xu, told CNR.

Pan said that a lack of demand overseas had caused a delay in the program. He said New West did have Ministry of Commerce approval.

But an official with the Jiangsu Department of Commerce said: "New West didn't have the qualification. It's doing the business illegally. It should apply for the qualification from the provincial department of commerce."

Pan was granted bail and the case is under investigation.