The Bestino Action Committee decides to call off its Occupy Putrajaya campaign after a meeting the prime minister's special officer.
PETALING JAYA: The Bestino gold scheme investors have called off their ‘Occupy Putrajaya’ campaign after the Prime Minister’s Office today agreed to hold a discussion with them.
Speaking to FMT, the investors’ spokesman K Kunasegaran said the campaign, which kicked off yesterday, was called off after the Bestino Action Committee met Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s special officer Ravin Ponniah at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya this morning.
Bestino was one of the nation’s largest gold investment scheme involving more than 6,700 investors nationwide who had invested more than RM400 million.
The gold trading company was operated by Perak-based gold merchant Chong Yuk Ming before it was closed down by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2010 for alleged money laundering.
The central bank also froze RM24 million following the raid.
The investors have been trying to get back their investments since then. They have held discussions with the Finance Ministry as well as with Bank Negara but todate no solution had been found.
Bestino claims that it has the money to pay back the investors but the fund was parked in Hong Kong. The company claimed that it needed Bank Negara’s approval to bring the money back into the country.
The investors then turned to the prime minister to intervene and solve the matter. Their efforts to obtain an appointment with Najib had met with a dead wall. The investors irked with the way the authorities have been passing the buck resorted to camping outside the PMO until they get an appointment with the prime minister.
Their campaign began yesterday.
On their meeting with Ravin Ponniah, Kunasekaran said the prime minister’s special officer had asked the Bestino Action Committee to send an official letter through their lawyer for a discussion with PMO, Finance Ministry, BNM, Bestino directors and investors.
“We will submit the letter very soon,” he said, adding that the government should speed-up the process of returning their money.
“It is already three years and the investors are still struggling to get back the money. If the Najib’s government has the financial muscle to settle the outstanding RM589 million debt owed by Tajudin Ramli of Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), what is the big deal to settle Bestino investors?” he asked.
In a related matter, A Gopalan, also an investor, urged MIC vice president M Saravanan to keep his hands out of the matter.
Tamil daily Malaysian Nanban today quoted Saravanan as saying that the government and MIC had put in all necessary efforts to assist the investors.
The MIC leader also slammed the investors for camping outside the PM’s office as it was becoming a trend to settle issues.
“From the very beginning MIC had eluded the issue. And now Saravanan is raising the issue just to get public attention,” said Gopalan.
PETALING JAYA: The Bestino gold scheme investors have called off their ‘Occupy Putrajaya’ campaign after the Prime Minister’s Office today agreed to hold a discussion with them.Speaking to FMT, the investors’ spokesman K Kunasegaran said the campaign, which kicked off yesterday, was called off after the Bestino Action Committee met Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s special officer Ravin Ponniah at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya this morning.
Bestino was one of the nation’s largest gold investment scheme involving more than 6,700 investors nationwide who had invested more than RM400 million.
The gold trading company was operated by Perak-based gold merchant Chong Yuk Ming before it was closed down by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2010 for alleged money laundering.
The central bank also froze RM24 million following the raid.
The investors have been trying to get back their investments since then. They have held discussions with the Finance Ministry as well as with Bank Negara but todate no solution had been found.
Bestino claims that it has the money to pay back the investors but the fund was parked in Hong Kong. The company claimed that it needed Bank Negara’s approval to bring the money back into the country.
The investors then turned to the prime minister to intervene and solve the matter. Their efforts to obtain an appointment with Najib had met with a dead wall. The investors irked with the way the authorities have been passing the buck resorted to camping outside the PMO until they get an appointment with the prime minister.
Their campaign began yesterday.
On their meeting with Ravin Ponniah, Kunasekaran said the prime minister’s special officer had asked the Bestino Action Committee to send an official letter through their lawyer for a discussion with PMO, Finance Ministry, BNM, Bestino directors and investors.
“We will submit the letter very soon,” he said, adding that the government should speed-up the process of returning their money.
“It is already three years and the investors are still struggling to get back the money. If the Najib’s government has the financial muscle to settle the outstanding RM589 million debt owed by Tajudin Ramli of Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), what is the big deal to settle Bestino investors?” he asked.
In a related matter, A Gopalan, also an investor, urged MIC vice president M Saravanan to keep his hands out of the matter.
Tamil daily Malaysian Nanban today quoted Saravanan as saying that the government and MIC had put in all necessary efforts to assist the investors.
The MIC leader also slammed the investors for camping outside the PM’s office as it was becoming a trend to settle issues.
“From the very beginning MIC had eluded the issue. And now Saravanan is raising the issue just to get public attention,” said Gopalan.
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