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Niranjan Shah, the first Asian to become the trustee of the University of Illinois, US, six years ago and who also became its chairman within a few years, resigned on August 3.
He stepped down following continuing criticism that he used political clout to get admission for an underscoring student from India to the university, which is one of the more competitive of public schools.
He was also accused of getting a job for his future son-in-law, an Oxford-educated Dutch citizen, at the University at a pay considered to be higher than the norm.
Shah had earlier said he was waiting to hear his name cleared in the scandal and would then resign in December.
He is the second trustee to resign, and the Chicago media are speculating that more will resign as the state appointed Admission Review Commission is studying alleged admission and job-related corruption at the university.
One of the most successful businessmen of Indian origin in the state of Illinois and a staunch fundraiser for the Democrats, Shah runs an engineering firm that employs over 300.
"It has become a very nasty political situation in the state," he had told Rediff.com last week. "I am 75 and I don't want to be dealing with these kind of controversies. I will stay on till December. It is important to me that my name should be cleared."
He also added that he had been in public service for over three decades and connected with education for over two decades. "It never occurred to me that I should be in public service for my own self, or my own glory or my family."
Shah was appointed as a trustee by Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was later thrown out of office for allegedly trying to sell the senate seat occupied by Barack Obama.
Shah decided to resign after members of the Admissions Review Commission said they think the trustees should step down.
'When I became a Trustee at U of I in 2003, many of the stakeholders in the University of Illinois system -- trustees, university administrators and staff, legislators and others -- operated under a set of rules and norms that seemed appropriate at the time,' he said.
'Today, I recognise that those rules are changing with the times, and I think that change is a very good thing,' he said in a statement.
He told rediff.com last week that Maarten de Jeu, now his son-in-law, could have been given a job at the firm Shah has been running. But Shah said he wanted him to start a career outside the family business.
The Chicago Tribune pointed out that de Jeu was paid a salary of $115,000 a year -- more than most other employees with the same title two years ago.
"He found another job and quit after working for the university for 10 months," Shah said. "He got a job paying him much more than the University did."
As for getting an Indian student admitted to the university, Shah said he did not know the young man at all. But the boy's parents had sought Shah's help after they read about Shah on the Internet. He would not give the name of the student.
"Indian universities have a different grading system than American ones," Shah said, adding, "All that I wanted was that the university admission office look into the grading system."