Nearly 50 families in Kampong Speu province’s Odong district urged authorities yesterday to intervene in a case against a school director they allege cheated them out of more than US$10,000.

Vaing Chas commune police chief Yin Sovanarith said the Illinois International School, which advertised English language lessons, closed without notice last Tuesday, taking the school fees of its students with it, amounting to US$10,800.

Up to 45 of the school’s 60 students have filed court complaints, seeking to retrieve those fees, which they had paid upfront last month when the school opened, and which ranged from US$200 to US$400 per student.

“Those parents filed complaints with us asking for compensation. Some students had not even had a class yet,” Yin Sovanarith said.

Authorities questioned three staff members who told them they had not been paid, he said.

Lim Hokchheng, who rented her house to the school, said the director had paid only the first month’s rent, after signing a three-year lease.

Provincial deputy police chief Soam Bora said he sent the complaints about the school to the provincial court yesterday so it could conduct an investigation.