THE mastermind of a tutoring scam at La Trobe University Bendigo was yesterday ordered to repay almost $300,000 he defrauded from the institution.Waddah Eltchelebi, 47, the former co-ordinator of the campus’ Aboriginal Tertiary Support Unit, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court to 37 months’ jail, with 25 months to serve before he is eligible for parole.The father of two pleaded guilty in September to charges, including eight counts of obtaining property by deception.He appeared in court via video link from Port Phillip Prison yesterday.The court heard Eltchelebi defrauded La Trobe of $299,551 in government funding from the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme, a program for indigenous students, between January, 2000, and December, 2002.Eltchelebi, a chronic gambler, personally received $131,398 of that amount.Throughout the 1990s and from 2000 to 2002, he falsely inflated the indigenous representation at the campus by convincing students to claim they were of Aboriginal descent.Between 2000 and 2002, he recruited tutors for the program, and regularly submitted fraudulent claim forms for their wages.Eltchelebi told the tutors they were overpaid by mistake, and to deposit the ‘‘over-payment’’ into his TAB account.He later told them there was no legitimate or substantial tuition to be performed, but they would still receive wages, claiming this was a method of retaining university funding.Eltchelebi instructed each tutor to retain one third of their ‘‘wage’’, and deposit the remaining two-thirds into his TAB account. ’‘A large number of these tutors have been prosecuted or dealt with by the courts,’’ Judge Geoff Chettle noted yesterday.‘‘You were clearly the operating force in all the offences.‘‘It was sophisticated, ongoing, lucrative, and saw you leading younger and vulnerable students into serious criminal conduct.’’ Eltchelebi also manufactured fake documents for students, including a family tree and certificate of indigenous confirmation.Judge Chettle said a psychologist’s report described the man as superficial, cunning and manipulative. He told how Eltchelebi had blamed his conduct on others, and falsely told police he was threatened as part of a conspiracy at the university.‘‘In your dealings with the police, you’ve done nothing but lie,’’ Judge Chettle said.The judge noted how Eltchelebi, who was born in Syria, had developed a ‘‘compulsive, pathological, beyond-control’’ gambling habit.This began after the breakdown of his first marriage in 1987, and continued after a conflict in his second marriage, he said.Judge Chettle told how the defendant was severely abused during his childhood in Germany, and his brother was later killed in a freak accident.The judge took into account the man’s guilty plea, his remorse, and his significant involvement in community sport, particularly basketball, in Bendigo. Judge Chettle concluded Eltchelebi’s culpability was reduced, to some degree, by his gambling addiction.The defendant has spent 16 months in custody, which has included serving a jail sentence for subsequent offences.The court heard Eltchelebi had spent 140 days in custody awaiting yesterday’s sentencing. This will be reckoned as time already served, leaving him with about 20 months to serve before he is eligible for parole.