Sydney businessman Amarjit Singh - the college's owner - outside the NSW Law Courts. Photo: Janie Barrett

A Sydney teacher withdrew $1.9 million in cash from a Granville ATM and received $20 million in payments from Unique International College in less than six months, the Federal Court has heard.

The teacher, Mandy Kang, was employed at the Sydney college while it allegedly engaged in "unconscionable conduct" in signing up illiterate, disabled students in Aboriginal missions to tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt, according to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The ACCC is pursuing the college for the return of $57 million in taxpayer funding.

The Kenthurst property formerly owned by Unique International College. Photo: Domain

The college denies any wrongdoing and claims it was operating a legitimate business. Mrs Kang is not a party to the proceedings.

The court heard that a $5.7 million Kenthurst property owned by Unique International College was bought by Mrs Kang in July 2015.

Mrs Kang, a relative of the college's owner Amarjit Singh, told the court she could not remember where the money came from.

Acting for the ACCC, Norman O'Bryan, SC, put to Mrs Kang that her family had been the beneficiary of payments to Unique International College through her mother-in-law's bank account.

"It's my mother-in-law's, she can do what she wants," she said. "I didn't care, she gave me the money and I took it."

The court was told Mrs Kang withdrew a total of $1.9 million from Unique's account from a Granville ATM, with one transaction totalling more than $60,000.

"You did dozens and dozens of transactions on that account, worth millions of dollars," said Mr O'Bryan.

The court heard that on one day in October last year, more than $60,000 cash was used to buy laptops from Bing Lee.

The ACCC alleges that "free" laptops were used as incentives to sign up students to the courses, which cost more than $20,000.

Mrs Kang said she did not withdraw any money for herself, but was acting under the instructions of Mr Singh.

Mr O'Bryan said that the withdrawals were part of a "familiar pattern" where millions of dollars in Commonwealth funding for students would come into the account and be withdrawn within days into a separate online savings account.

"The Commonwealth paid $2.75 million in VET FEE-HELP on July 16 and a day later $2.4 million was withdrawn," said Mr O'Bryan.

The court heard that while Mrs Kang taught up to 60 students full time, she was simultaneously completing two six-month diplomas at other colleges in three months, caring for her two children and deferring a double degree in commerce and law at Western Sydney University.

At the same time, Unique paid Mrs Kang a regular wage of more than $6000 that always added up to an identical total amount, despite different hours and different loadings.

"I just didn't pay attention to my payslips, just like bank statements," she said. "Maybe I got underpaid, so maybe I need to go back and check."

Mrs Kang also travelled to some of the state's poorest areas, including Walgett, where she allegedly signed up people to courses in management and salon management worth more than $20,000 in student loans.

The ACCC alleges that because many students targeted by Unique were disabled or barely literate, many of those public loans will never be repaid, saddling students with debt and putting the public millions of dollars out of pocket.

According to the ACCC, of the 1534 students who commenced Unique courses from July 2014, 15 students have formally completed their diplomas.

Text messages tendered to court reveal Mrs Kang allegedly instructed one of her agents to sign up more than 50 people at a Tamworth information session in March 2015.

"Do them all, just make sure paper work and ID is 100 per cent complete," the text messages allegedly said.

In 2014, Mrs Kang also took on responsibility for a further 80 students online as a trainer and assessor in a course for which she said "there was no teaching".

The court also heard Mrs Kang's "prodigious list of qualifications" from other institutions included three diplomas in marketing, another in salon and management and a further two in business. One of the business qualifications was an 18-month course she completed in two months but could not remember the name of a single unit of study.

"I had to have a direct qualification in order to teach the qualification," said Mrs Kang.

The ACCC alleged that Mrs Kang was accruing course materials in order for Unique to use them for their students. Mrs Kang denied the allegations.

The hearing continues.