Fifty-three students at the University of Management and Economics in Kampong Cham filed complaints to provincial police yesterday, claiming a local NGO director swindled cash from them in exchange for never-delivered jobs.

The recruitment, believed to have been made by radio, guaranteed UME students jobs paying $120 a month at local NGO Humanity of Organisation for Development. The director, Kea Vy, 27, allegedly asked the students to pay $100 to $300 directly to him in order to become part of his staff.

“This NGO opened in Kampong Cham early this year,” said Em Chhun Dy, deputy Kampong Cham police chief.

“He used the cheated money to buy office furniture. A few months later he still had not paid the students the salary they had worked for.”

Chhun Dy said Vy was not arrested under the stipulation he would compensate the students who gave him money.

“We questioned the director and ordered him to pay compensation by selling his office properties. We did not arrest him because he promised to find money to pay the students back,” Chhun Dy said.