Nov 9 2012, 09:53 AM
How to Get Back Your Genneva Gold and Money – 10 Things To Do
Nov 08 2012
As many as 35,000 investors and up to a whopping RM10 billion of investment were sucked into Genneva Malaysia Gold Scheme. The problem – Genneva Malaysia’s liabilities exceeded its assets. That was what Awang Adek Hussin, Malaysia Deputy Finance Minister, claimed couple of days ago. Considering PM Najib Razak is the Finance Minister himself, this statement from his deputy was perhaps the closest one can get from Bank Negara’s (Central Bank) investigation after their raid. However, one of Genneva Malaysia’s traders claimed the company has some 60,000 customers with monthly turnover of RM2 billion. On the other hand, Geneva Malaysia’s website boast 50,000 customers and a turnover of RM3 billion.
Whether these gold investors (or rather traders as what Genneva diehard fans would like to be known) actually poured merely RM30,000 or as high as RM285,000 each into the scheme is immaterial. The fact is most of these investors emptied their life savings believing Genneva scheme was a revolutionary and innovative business model – a blue ocean business strategy that could easily put McDonald and Apple Inc. business model to shame. Naturally, these street-smart Gennevarians cried foul and ran amok when their golden goose was slaughtered – by the authorities. They are crying for blood and refuse to wake up from their slumberland.
They are upset the Central Bank took away their cash cow. They are furious they cannot milk their golden cow anymore. They would curse and whack you till kingdom come for suggesting Genneva Gold scheme was actually a brilliant and sophisticated Ponzi scheme. They are crying because their children, parents, grandma, kitten, hamster, goldfish and whatnot are dying because they can’t afford the medicine after the Central Bank robbed their gold and monthly Hibah gift money. They are suggesting jealousy and cooking up tons of conspiracy theories as being the motive because Genneva was so successful that the company’s gold bullion could easily dwarf the Central Bank’s reserves (*woohoo*). In short, it’s everyone’s fault but theirs.
If the 14,000-plus Facebook Genneva Supporters Likes is any indicator, between 20% to 40% of Genneva gold traders (they don’t like to be called investors *tongue-in-cheek*) were painfully affected by the raid. This numbers can also means the high rollers or kings (of MLM and get-rich-scheme regulars) have long gone leaving these desperate leftovers running like headless chicken. While many greedy yet arrogant traders actually pawn everything including their undergarments and even took loans from financial institutions, a certain sector of illiterate yet ignorant rural folks bet their life savings on the scheme – all because of 1.8% to 2.5% monthly gift money.
You can also bet your money that a portion of these Facebook Genneva Supporters actually do not have the physical gold bullion in their possession – they left it with Genneva for safekeeping because renewal every 3-months required the gold bullion to be presented to Genneva – a successful trick by Genneva deliberately inconvenience the buyers. While the more fortunate buyers have at least their physical gold bullion as consolation prize, the “unfortunate” risk takers have only a piece of certificate of ownership as their trophy.
Latest update from the authorities revealed (from seized records) many investors who had paid had yet to receive any delivery of gold. The statement also said the total amount of gold seized during the raids from all the companies (Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Pageantry Gold Bhd, Caesar Gold Sdn Bhd and Worldwide Far East Bhd?) is approximately 142.7 kilogram, and monies in bank accounts and cash amounts to RM101.92 million – a puzzling figure considering Genneva alone is said to have monthly turnover of RM2 billion. So what happened to all the glittering gold bars and billions of ringgit allegedly robbed by Malaysian Central Bank?
At yesterday’s gold price of US$55.51 (RM169.39) per-gram or US$55,513.41 (RM169,359) per-kilogram of gold (the gold price has been trending down, mind you), there should be 11,809 kilograms of gold in Genneva’s vault, based on RM2 billion of turnover. Either there should be 11 tons of gold bars or RM2 billion in Genneva’s bank accounts (and cash). Now, let’s give the Gennevarians the benefits of doubt. Let’s assume there were indeed tons of gold bars and billions of cash prior to Central Bank’s raid. What can the Genneva buyers do to get back their hard-earned gold and money?
{ 1 } Demand Genneva Directors’ Explanation
First thing first – ever since the raid, none of Genneva’s directors – Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, Ng Poh Weng or Chin Wai Leong – make any personal appearance to either calm the loyal Gennevarians or to deny Bank Negara’s claim of money laundering and whatnot. These directors must be the world’s more generous philanthropists for welcoming outsiders, in this case Central Bank, taking away their company’s gold bullions and billions of ringgit with open arms.
Strangely, they did not show any sign of anger or desperation. If they were really innocent, they should come out from their hiding ages ago and show all the Gennevarians that they actually care for the Gennevarians’ welfare. Stop giving excuses such as their legal team advised them against giving public statements. Gimme a break – the authorities already alleged there were only 142.7 kilograms of gold and RM101.92 million left. What else is more important – clearing your good name or waiting for months or perhaps years till the investigation concluded?
{ 2 } Clear Doubt and Accusation about Ponzi Scheme
The directors should show proofs about the existence of gold and money prior to the raid, and the assets should not differs by a Mars journey against the liabilities. They should show that there were enough gold to be reimbursed to Gennevarians should they wish to claim it back. With such huge amount of gold and money, the company should have some records or archives elsewhere about vaulting, insurance coverage, security guards force information, CCTV recordings and anything associated with the treasures stored in their shoplot in Kuchai Lama. You don’t simply store tons of gold in your normal storeroom, do you? Those idiots who robbed 17 ATM (automated teller machine) so far must be banging their heads against the wall for missing this shoplot’s jewels.
Most importantly, by showing proofs on figures that correspond to the amount of gold and money as per investors’ investment, the accusation that Genneva is another Ponzi scam can be eliminated. Again, enough bullshits about legal advice restraining the directors from speaking to public while the investigation is going on. Did you meant to say you’re so obedient as to keep quiet knowing the gold bullions will never returned to you while the Central Bank is dragging its feet in the investigation (assuming the directors are really innocent in the first place)? Hell, if the directors beat around the bush with more grandmother stories, sue them. If Central Bank’s claim was a hoax and the authorities have indeed plundered the gold seized, the directors should fight tooth and nail defending Genneva’s innocence, well, at least I would.
{ 3 } Show / Prove of Genneva Business’s Sustainability
One of the reasons given by Bank Negara for the raid was the business model sustainability – meaning Genneva cannot sustain its business by giving away up to 24% annually in gift money to investors. It’s time for Genneva directors to show some proofs about its sustainability – be it transaction statements from trading gold commodity in the open market, summary of profit and loss from trading equities, options or even currencies. We’re not forcing them to reveal their profit-making secret formula. We just want to see where the company derives its profit, the same way Warren Buffett, George Soros or any fund managers disclose their investment portfolio.
Gennevarians should stop blindly accepting the excuse that it was a guarded secret on how the company made its profit. If KFC can still safeguard their secret recipe while replicating its franchise worldwide, what was so secretive about Genneva gold trading business? What type of Genneva’s secretive business that the world does not already do or trade now, unless it was related to illegal transactions? If they’re legal and can be shown its sustainability, then Bank Negara will be in deep trouble. On the bright side, if the business was indeed sustainable, it could invite huge investment locally as well as globally. And why still hide under secretive business excuse when your pants are on fire?
{ 4 } Bring Bank Negara (Central Bank) to Court
Many Genneva Facebook supporters scream till foam at mouth about suing the Central Bank for wrongly raiding their darling 1-Genneva cash-cow. Interestingly nothing materializes even after 1-month since the raid. What happens to their hungry babies and dying hamsters who had been denied their rightful medical treatments? Surely they would have died surviving on water alone for a month (*grin*). If there’s truth to even 10% of the 14,000 Facebook Genneva Supporters story about survival dependency on Genneva, they would be desperate enough to bring the Central Bank to Court. Furthermore, it was Bank Negara’s fault for not stopping the three directors scammers 3-years earlier, if indeed the business was a Ponzi scheme.
Heck, by suing Malaysian Central Bank, the news will goes viral globally. And knowing how obsess PM Najib Razak is about being the most popular prime minister on the planet Earth, chances are high the Central Bank would conclude their investigation before year end and hopefully can return the seized assets through the judiciary channel. If Genneva Gold was really a blue ocean business strategy, this measure can help promotes its innovative business model worldwide and perhaps leapfrog the country to the World’s Top Financial Centers. Can you imagine the coverage from CNN, CNBC, Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg, BBC and whatnot?
{ 5 } Seek Assistance from Genneva Chairperson
The fact that nobody from Genneva fans club seek advice and assistance from its chairperson,Tengku Muhaini Sultan Ahmad Shah, the daughter of Sultan of Pahang, was simply mind-boggling. Being the strongest supporter of the federal government, the royal house has great influence and could easily pull string to get the sleepy Central Bank working overtime to get to the bottom of the investigation. Besides, Genneva should be innocent of all wrongdoing otherwise how do you explain the willingness of Tengku in accepting the chairmanship, right? The fault must be with the Central Bank’s incompetency (and jealousy).
Furthermore, the royalty has everything to lose and nothing to gain from the raid as it indirectly links the royal house to Ponzi scam business and money laundering. Thus, Genneva investors or traders or whatever you wish to call them has a very good justification in asking their chairperson to help restore the company’s good name, not to mention the resumption of the gold trading business (*grin*).
{ 6 } Seek Assistance from Top Gun Mahathir Mohamad
If there’s one person who can send Central Bank Governor, Dr Zeti Aziz, into retirement with a phone call, that person is none other than former premier Mahathir Mohamad. The fact that Mahathir launched Genneva’s Syariah in 2010 carries more weight than you can imagine. Surely he wasn’t there just for nice food and gold wafers as token of appreciation, was he? Like it or not, he indirectly endorsed Genneva’s gold trading business so it defies Newton’s law of gravity that Bank Negara raided such a successful company. Hence it’s interesting that nobody asks the former premier of his opinion about Genneva’s raid.
Gennevarians should seek an appointment with Mahathir, now that he has retired from politics and has plenty of free time, to seek his expert guidance on the next course of action, if indeed the 60,000 Gennevarians have been victimized. Forget about sending memorandum to PM Najib Razak in returns for his assurance about solving the problem. He doesn’t have time to even read your memo as he’s fire-fighting his own political survival within UMNO. Mahathir is the man to look for and he can demand Central Bank Governor and Prime Minister to trim your garden’s grass, if he wishes to (*tongue-in-cheek*).
{ 7 } March from Kuchai Lama to PutraJaya
If there’s one thing that can make PM Najib Razak carries two handkerchiefs to wipe his saliva out of panic, the name is street demonstration. But street demonstration is illegal, technically speaking, so please don’t do that. Instead you can “march peacefully” while holding placards and banners praising the current federal government. Better still – bring tons of Barisan Nasional, UMNO, MCA, MIC flags and not forgetting “We Love Najib” gigantic banners from Kuchai Lama to PutraJaya. After all, most Gennevarians have equated their 1-Genneva with 1-Malaysia so that shouldn’t be too hard to do. Aiyah, when come to apple polishing the current regime, how many tactics are there left on the book, so go figure.
Most importantly the main juice – bold, underline, italic and colour the message about 60,000 voters from Gennevarians who are willing to exchange their votes for the return of their gold and money, or whatever that was left, not that the Prime Minister doesn’t already know that majority of Gennevarians are with the opposition. It’s puzzling that despite screams for march from day one since the company was raided, there seems to be empty talks by the Genneva Facebook Supporters – typical keyboard warriors. Even if half of the 14,000 Likes meant what they said about their hardship post-raid, the thundering 7,000 marchers would raise many eyebrows.
{ 8 } Launch Nationwide Signature Campaign
Since Genneva members were victimised by the latest raid by Bank Negara, a signature campaign by Gennevarians at their respective 7 states branch office nationwide (Penang, Perak, Selangor, Melaka, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak) could be effective in pressuring Najib administration into returning the gold and money seized. This is also the best time and opportunity to showcase your suffering by bringing your dying family members and arowanas for public viewing. Besides getting public support, you can also explain why Genneva is not a Ponzi scam company and how the Bank Negara had robbed your hard-earned money out of jealousy.
{ 9 } Launch Hunger Strike
Remember how Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainee and Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj was released after his hunger strike? Well, maybe hunger strike due to political reason is not such big news after all. But a hunger strike by 14,000 good citizens (who pay their tax promptly) because of daylight robbery by the country’s Central Bank is definitely a world-class news. If Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen’s definition of world-class dinner is nothing less than RM150 a meal was the yardstick, then a 14,000 people on hunger strike is without doubt a world-class event.
Of course, there’s no way the authorities can detect if some of the 14,000 people actually smuggled Nasi Lemak, Pop Corn, Ramli Burger, Teh Tarik or Coke into the event so the suggested hunger strike should not harm your health that much. Organise it and rest assure the newly elected President Obama would give a call to PM Najib asking about this Guinness world record event.
{ 10 } Call for International News Conference
The first thing you’ll probably do, if you’ve been victimised, is to hold a press conference – the wider the coverage the better. The most powerful government on planet Earth – Government of United States – is still at the mercy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange due to global news coverage. Assange can be terminated with a press of a button but he’s not untouchable because every Tom, d*** and his hamster knows about the whistleblower. So if you want Bank Negara to return your gold and money, put international pressure on them, provided the world believe Genneva was innocent in the first place.
There it goes – 10 things to do to get back your gold and money; and monthly gift money if Genneva can resume its business. But the three directors have to come out from their hiding and lead the 60,000 supporters. Leaving the battle to the senior consultants while the directors enjoy their fruits in hiding will not help the current situation. Scream as you like but the chances of Gennevarians getting back their gold is almost nil. If what the deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin said is true, there’s no way Genneva can resume its business operation simply because there’s not enough gold to be redeemed by its members.
The consolation prize, if you’re lucky – based on today’s gold price of US$55.18 (RM168.34) per-gram or US$55,180.33 (RM168,343) per-kilogram, the seized 142.7 kilogram would worth RM24 million. Add that to monies in bank accounts and cash amounts to RM101.92 million seized, you’ve about RM125.92 million to be shared amongst 60,000 loyal Gennevarians which translate to about RM2,098 per person. Hey, cheers up – at least you can enjoy 14 times of world-class dinner meal of RM150 each, going by Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen’s yardstick
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