Report from BusinessTimes called it a milestone against investment scams when it quoted the Malaysian Securities Commission has obtained a worldwide Mareva injunction against persons involved in the Swisscash investment scam preventing them from disposing of assets in and outside Malaysia.
The SC also announced it has blocked access to two more websites offering illegal investment schemes, namely www.eaindex.com & www.winifund.com. This brings to 10 the total number of websites blocked so far.The Mareva was sought by the SC following the filing of a civil suit against defendants Albert Lee Kee Sien, Kelvin Choo Mun Hoe, Amir bin Hassan, Dynamic Revolution Sdn Bhd, Swiss Mutual Fund (1948) S.A, SMF INternational Ltd and SMF (1948) International Ltd, SC said in a statement today. The injunction was obtained on June 21 this year. The Mareva restrains and prohibits the defendants from carrying on the business of Swisscash, targeting, soliciting and collecting funds from the public for investments in Swisscash or any other internet investment scheme. The defendants also cannot host or operate the Swisscash websites or operate any other such websites which solicit investments for Swisscash or any other Internet investment scheme.
The pace of the authority in protecting public interest is simply marvelous. The scam was reported in major newspaper and TV back in 19th April, 2007. Back then FinanceTwitter has also picked up the news when the Securities Commission (SC) has published a list of more than 50 companies which are not approved or authorised to deal in securities. So, why only 10 websites are blocked so far when the fact remains that the rest of the 40 companies are operating illegally cheating public’s money (I’m not going to debate on how naive and greedy the public is in such a scam).
Secondly, why the famous SwissCash scam (die-hard fans would understand what I mean) was allowed to operate for such a long period without any action? The authority was rather low-profile on SwissCash but FinanceTwitter has highlighted this company back in Apr (you can read the article at Internet Investment’s Get-Rich-Scheme You Should Avoid). Could it be that SwissCash members consist of high-rank individuals who couldn’t resist the temptation of the mind-boggling returns of the investment? High-ranking individuals here mean those with “Dato” titled, yes the scam is that influential, mind you?
Thirdly, why took such a long time to finally pay attention to SwissCash scam? The scam has been operating in Malaysia for more than a year – some said. Pardon me for forgetting that the government actually practices “close-one-eye” policy, not to mention the sleeping-on-the-job working culture. It doesn’t help to only blow the whistle after all the big fishes swam away leaving baby fishes alone.
SC said it secured the Mareva following its investigation on the scheme under the Securities Industry Act 1983 and the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001. Looking at the action by the authority today, it could be due to the urgency that the scam could possibly link to the funding for terrorism. Furthermore, Federal CID Director Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee reported that luxury vehicles stolen in Malaysia are being smuggled overseas for sale to fund terrorist and criminal organisations.
The Mareva restrains and prohibits the defendants from carrying on the business of Swisscash, targeting, soliciting and collecting funds from the public for investments in Swisscash or any other internet investment scheme. The defendants also cannot host or operate the Swisscash websites or operate any other such websites which solicit investments for Swisscash or any other Internet investment scheme.
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