Many paying a high price for glory and prestige
PETALING JAYA: Dozens of local gullible businessmen and senior government officials have fallen prey to a Ukrainian-run vanity business awards organisation.
It was touted that the awards would bolster the recipients’ company and personal prestige.
Among them are heads of local councils, heads of government-owned investment firms, managing directors and chief executives of international schools, multi-level marketing agencies and property developers, as well as those with information technology and utility companies.
A source said these businessmen and government agencies, unaware that the awards have no value, paid between £4,500 (RM25,500) and £9,500 (RM53,800) each to the Oxford-based European Business Assembly (EBA) to receive business or leadership awards.
The awards – known as EBA, Oxford – deliberately uses “Oxford” as part of its promotion to trade on the prestigious University of Oxford reputation. The events, seminars and awards ceremonies are held at the Oxford Town Hall on occasion.
EBA, a British-registered company, also holds talks by “exclusive Oxford University lecturers” for its members.
An aide to a local recipient, who asked not to be named, acknowledged the Socrates Award given to her chairman for Best Manager was worthless and does not help them in any way to promote or bolster the company’s business presence locally or regionally.
“Initially, we thought the award could help propel our business presence in Malaysia as well as in the region. We went through various vetting processes, which required us to submit business information and documents, to EBA. The checking and submission of the documents were comprehensive,” she said.
The aide, who prepared all the documents for the award, said her chairman was given a diploma, medal and trophy, after being named a winner at a grand ceremony in Oxford city.
She said they paid big money to use the award brand and the accreditation to affiliate them with the organisation. However, she said, they found out later that the award was worthless.
“We were given the impression by the organisation that it is linked or associated with Oxford University. The EBA contact person even told us that being an award winner, our company would be fea- tured in the Socrates Almanac which is accessible at leading European university libraries, including Oxford University’s Bodleian Library,” she said.
The source said that there are two ways to secure EBA awards. One through an offer from the company via e-mail, and the other is by applying through its website.
Those who accept the award would have to pay administrative fees and buy a five-year licence to use the award brand for public relations and marketing purposes.
The source said the award, run by a father-and-son team, is not illegal but is questionable, with no reputation credentials to the titles given out by them.
Aside from the Socrates Award, EBA also issues a Best Enterprise Award, European Quality Award, Queen Victoria Commemorative Medal, The Name in Science and Rose of Paracelsus.
However, EBA recently put up a statement on its website stating that it never claimed the organisation is associated or affiliated with the University of Oxford or any British governmental institution, following British media scrutiny over the awards issued by it.
“EBA is a leading events company. We have organised over 120 world-class conferences in the last 17 years,” it said.
The statement also said that the diplomas, certificates and awards issued by it were officially registered with the Intellectual Property Office.
“EBA is an independent self-financed organisation and does not rely on grants or governmental support. All activities held are financed through registration and the accreditation fees of its members, partners and participants,” it stated.