Independent Forensic Accounting Review Confirms ChinaCast Education Corporation's Cash Balances

BEIJING, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- ChinaCast Education Corporation (the "Company" or "ChinaCast") (Nasdaq GS:CAST), a leading post-secondary education and e-learning services provider in China, today announced that the Audit Committee of its Board of Directors (the "Audit Committee") retained FTI Consulting, Inc., ("FTI"), an independent global advisory firm with extensive expertise in forensic accounting and due diligence, to conduct an independent review of the Company's cash balances as of June 30, 2011.

For no reason other than to counter the bad press a number of Chinese companies has received, the Company voluntarily retained FTI to perform an independent cash confirmation. No question or concern has been raised by the Company's auditors, audit committee or any other relevant professional related to the Company's cash balances.

FTI independently obtained and reviewed documents which state that as of June 30, 2011, ChinaCast had cash, cash equivalents and term deposits totaling US$132.1 million (RMB 845,674,247) held with 29 PRC financial institutions. This total represents 98.5% of the total cash, cash equivalents and term deposit balances reported in the Company's form 10-Q for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011. The remaining 1.5% discrepancy is attributable to the termination of the Company's University of Petroleum e-learning joint venture.

Daniel Tseung, Chairman of the Audit Committee, stated, "We believe the findings contained in the FTI report should provide some comfort to shareholders as to the integrity of the Company's financial reporting and should serve to distinguish the Company from other Chinese companies that have received adverse publicity after failing to provide adequate verifications with respect to their financial statements."

About ChinaCast Education Corporation

Established in 1999, ChinaCast Education Corporation is a leading post-secondary education and e-learning services provider in China. The Company provides post-secondary degree and diploma programs through its three fully accredited universities: The Foreign Trade and Business College of Chongqing Normal University located in Chongqing; Lijiang College of Guangxi Normal University located in Guilin; and Hubei Industrial University Business College located in Wuhan. These universities offer four year and three year, career-oriented bachelor's degree and diploma programs in business, finance, economics, law, IT, engineering, hospitality and tourism management, advertising, language studies, art and music.

The Company also provides e-learning services to post-secondary institutions, K-12 schools, government agencies and corporate enterprises via its nationwide satellite broadband network. These services include interactive distance learning applications, multimedia education content delivery and vocational training courses. The Company is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market with the ticker symbol CAST.

About FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,800 employees located in 23 countries, FTI consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management, strategic communications and restructuring. The company generated $1.4 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2010. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain statements that are forward-looking, as that term is defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements express our current expectations or forecasts of possible future results or events, including projections of future performance, statements of management's plans and objectives, future contracts, and forecasts of trends and other matters.  These projections, expectations and trends are dependent on certain risks and uncertainties including such factors, among others, as growth in demand for education services, smooth and timely implementation of new training centers and other risk factors listed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this filing, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts and often use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "believe," "will likely result," "outlook," "project" and other words and expressions of similar meaning. No assurance can be given that the results in any forward-looking statements will be achieved and actual results could be affected by one or more factors, which could cause them to differ materially. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

SOURCE ChinaCast Education Corporation

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