HOUND them
KUALA LUMPUR: Investors of “money game” scheme Maxim Trader have been encouraged to go after the company’s bosses to get their money back.
An investor in the scheme, who declined to be named, said a small number who had pressured the management have succeeded in recovering their investments.
The investor said it took him a whole year of badgering the bosses of Maxim Trader, but he recovered over RM100,000 he had invested in the company.
He said only those who relentlessly pursued the officials appeared to have been repaid, and urged other investors to do the same.
“If you don’t chase them, they will comfortably pocket your money. Even if they repay 10% of the investors who aggressively pursue them, they will still get to keep the remaining billions of ringgit of other investors who do not hound them,” he added.
Several investors who spoke to theSun expressed anger on learning the founders and top officials of Maxim Trader had turned a deaf
ear to their woes and were enjoying a high life since the scheme kicked off in 2013.
theSun learnt from the investors that the scheme’s bosses were moving about freely in flashy cars and living in luxury in prime areas in Petaling Jaya, Bandar Sunway and Taman OUG.
Businessman Abdul Rahman Abdullah, 65, who invested RM360,000 in the company and has been chasing for the return of his money for over a year, said he was contacted by two individuals of the company, both with “datuk” titles, and was offered a partial refund after the plight of investors was front-paged in theSun on June 2.
“They offered to buy back my shares at 60% of the sum I invested. I declined and they counter-offered slightly more, claiming to have made a fair settlement. I refused,” he said.
Abdul Rahman is among a group of investors who have formed a committee and appointed a KL-based law firm to seek legal recourse.
Sreether Sundram, a partner in law firm Murali B. Pillai which is representing the group, is optimistic of success.
“We have begun gathering evidence and will take all necessary steps to realise the recovery,” he said.
In Australia, several hundred investors who lost millions of dollars on the scheme are in the dark since the company went “silent” more than two years ago.
Sumathy Menon, 58, a Malaysian who took up Australian citizenship two decades ago, said she invested US$30,000 (RM128,000) when the company went on a roadshow in Australia in 2014.
Sumathy said she is at her wits’ end as there are no longer representatives of the company who keep them updated on the status of their investments.
Maxim Trader claimed to be a company in the business of foreign currency trading and other multi-portal businesses. It was red-flagged by Bank Negara not long after its inception in 2013.
With over 50,000 investors from Malaysia and 10 other countries, funds are said to have grown to RM20 billion less than two years later.
Three Malaysians, all with “datuk seri” and “datuk”, were named as the founders of the company.
The company’s officials have yet to respond to queries by investors and theSun.