Investors and traders throng Genneva’s offices following raid by govt agencies
KUALA LUMPUR: Anxious Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd investors and trading agents thronged the company's headquarters here in Jalan Kuchai Maju 6 and its Penang hub to find out if their savings were safe in the wake of the raid by several government agencies.
Fears were rife because many of them had invested large sums of money in the company's gold trading scheme.
Shereen Lim, 54, who quit her job as a timber exporter to concentrate on gold trading as a consultant, said she felt victimised after the raid because her main source of income was affected.
“Many of my customers have been using the money from gold trading to support their children's further education, their aged parents or to pay medical bills,” she said.
“This raid is affecting our rice bowl and causing us a lot of hardship.”
The Genneva office remained shut yesterday despite a gathering of more than hundred-strong crowd, most of them consultants.
“Some of my clients are retirees in their 70s and 80s. They have put in their life savings here,” said
Pat Lu, a senior consultant who also went into gold trading to fund her son's college education.
“My aunts and uncles are also customers. They buy gold from me, too,” she said, adding that they had been getting monthly returns called hibah (a discretionary “gift” in Islamic banking).
“I'm wondering when my commission is going to be paid, because my son's fees will be due. If not for Bank Negara's raid, I wouldn't be worrying,” she said.
Another consultant, Moy Fook Thong, 75, said investors trading with the company receive physical gold in the form of wafers a few days after making payment.
However, due to the investigations, many customers and consultants had not been able to receive their gold or commissions, Moy said.
In GEORGE TOWN, Genneva regional director Datuk Joseph Kow held a closed-door meeting with some 100 consultants and investors at the office yesterday, where many of them expressed confidence in the firm's legality.
It is believed that among other things, Kow spoke about the raid on Monday and that more information would be released when company chairman, Tengku Muhaini Sultan Ahmad Shah, returned from London.
Like many of the consultants interviewed, Mazri Mahmood, 41, said the swoop had created many problems for his customers.
“Most of us are worried because the company's bank account has been frozen following the raid. Our transactions have also been interrupted,” he said.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...5797&sec=nationGenneva investors still in shock
PETALING JAYA: Investors of gold trading scheme Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd were still in shock a day after an investigative raid on the company.
Anxious and confused over the scope of investigations, hundreds of them converged at the company's headquarters in Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, here, and its office in Penang, demanding answers.
However, Bank Negara Malaysia spokesman Lee Poh Fong said a statement would only be issued after investigations had concluded.
“There is nothing wrong with gold trading but we want investors to be careful against those promising high returns,” she said, referring to a previous press release issued on Sept 5.
Looking for answers: Some 100 consultants and customers being ushered into a meeting room for a briefing session conducted by Genneva regional director Datuk Joseph Kow at the branch office in Gelugor, Penang.
According to the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Affairs Ministry's enforcement division, one of the four government agencies involved in the raid of the firm, the action was in response to numerous complaints by investors.
Division head Mohd Roslan Mahayudin said besides Bank Negara, the lead agency heading the operations and investigations, the ministry had also been receiving complaints over the past four months from people who had allegedly lost their investments.
“The decision to raid Genneva was carried out by a task force led by BNM to probe get-rich-quick schemes,” he said.
Sources familiar with the investigations said the company was being investigated for offences under money-laundering and deposit-taking laws.
Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department conducted a similar swoop on Genneva Pte Ltd's Orchard Towers offices in the city-state on Monday.
Shocked investors and agents of Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd crowded the company’s offices in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, anxious to find out if their gold trade investments are safe in the wake of the raid by several government agencies.
Genneva has ceased all transactions pending the outcome of the investigations.
In a public statement posted on its Facebook page and website, the firm urged agents and customers to stay calm while it settled the issues with the authorities.
In GEORGE TOWN, a senior official of the company claimed that Genneva had not violated any laws.
The official, who wished to remain unnamed, said the firm wrote to the Finance Ministry earlier this year for guidance on gold trading and had also given its views on the business.
He said the ministry replied that a meeting would be arranged to listen to Genneva's views and suggestions on gold trading.
“So far, there has been no feedback on when the meeting will be held. We thank our customers for supporting us. We are purely a gold trading company. We will work hard to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.
“We urge our consultants and customers to remain calm for the time being,” added the official.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...5893&sec=nation 
Sep 21 2012, 04:09 PM
Quote
R
), the chairman is one of the directors of Genneva and Genneva World. All of them are related, no body is neutral and the only thing they are after is your money.
I LIKE THIS! 
0.1437sec
0.66
7 queries
GZIP Disabled