Gold trading company under investigation to pay dividends

KOTA KINABALU: A gold trading company being investigated by Bank Negara is working to pay out dividends to its customers.

Worldwide Far East Bhd CEO Datuk Noor Ismahanum Mohd Ismail, whose offices were raided in Kuala Lumpur last Friday, told investors here that the company would take two weeks to coordinate the payment of dividends.

As for allegations by some customers that they were not getting their dividends; or that the cheques given to them had bounced, she said these were due to technical banking problems and misunderstanding among customers.

“We issued post-dated cheques but many of them banked in their cheques before the due date,” she explained.

Noor Ismahanum also explained that the bank that they were using could only accept and issue a limited amount of money each day.

“However, we will use two weeks from now to coordinate the list of clients and start paying out the dividends accordingly,” she said.

She denied taking illegal deposits from clients, who were referred to as members in a purchase and trading agreement when they signed up for the scheme.

“This is not actually an investment, but the trading and pur- chase of gold,” said Noor Isnahanum.

The company was among the three gold investment companies raided after Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd for various offences, including suspected illegal deposit-taking last week.

Noor Isnahanum said she was unhappy with the way the raid was carried out and claimed it did not follow the standard raid procedures.

She, however, added that the company would not take Bank Negara to court .

“My staff members said they were asked to switch off all the CCTVs in the office.

“They also told my staff not to call Bank Negara, but just wait for a call from it,” she said.