Money for college admission

Under scrutiny: Students walking at the Stanford University campus in Santa Clara, California. — AP

Beijing: A college admissions cheating scheme in the United States has triggered widespread discussion among Chinese netizens during the four-day May Day holiday after it was reported that a wealthy family paid US$6.5mil (RM26.8mil) to assure their daughter’s admission to Stanford Univer­sity.

Billionaire Zhao Tao, 52, president and co-founder of Shandong Buchang Pharmaceuticals, a company that specialises in traditional Chinese medicine to fight cardiovascular disease, reportedly funnelled money to William Rick Singer, the admissions consultant who is at the centre of the explosive case brought by US federal prosecutors.