By P. Vijian, Bernama,
Chennai : The Chennai police have sought a court order to arrest a prominent Malaysian “datuk” after one of his companies was alleged to have duped thousands of investors of millions of rupees in south India in a pyramid scheme.
A Chennai-based subsidiary, QuestNet Enterprise India Pvt Ltd, the marketing and distribution arm of Hong Kong-based QI Group, claimed to have collected millions of rupees from the investors and promised to repay their investment dividends in gold coins, but left failed to do so.
Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Chennai Police Commissionerate, G. Sampath Kumar said the police were stepping up pressure to bring the prime accused to India to solve the cases.
More than 1,000 people are believed to have lost their savings in the scheme.
“We have approached the court to issue a formal arrest warrant to secure him.
“It would be done through proper channels… we will bring him in a month or two, following all procedures of extradition (just) like in the (notorious Indian underworld don) Abu Saleem (case).
“Since we have (an) extradition treaty with Malaysia, it is easy for us to bring him here. We need him to investigate the case,” he added.
India and Malaysia signed a draft extradition treaty in 2002.
Last Sunday, Chennai police arrested seven staff of QuestNet in the Indian city, including the company’s top woman director after numerous reports were lodged in various districts in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the well-designed, quick-rich pyramid scheme.
The scheme has left many investors in tears over the past few days.
Several top south Indian actors and actresses, and prominent Indians were also believed to have paid huge sums of money to make quick profits from the company’s scheme.
While police have yet to determine the actual figure, local media estimates that it could reach a staggering RM10 million.
Sampath said the department had also informed Interpol to freeze the datuk’s company assets. Besides, a string of names of suspects are on the police investigation list.
“We are investigating the alleged involvement of an Indian Foreign Service officer who was to take over the mantle of the company. He (datuk) has utilised foreign service officers to bend all the rules and regulations of the country,” added the police chief.
The police are also probing the alleged involvement of several prominent south Indian artistes involved in widely promoting the pyramid scheme among the poor masses.
The “datuk” is suspected to have violated the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act which regulates foreign exchange and securities, and also breached the Reserve Bank of India’s rules, added Sampath.