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I highly questioned the journalistic std of our reporters. Why on earth couldn't they be bothered to check up on this company before writing a piece on it? They could have lead to ignorant investors unknowingly went for this Ponzi scheme.
Is this the best ST reporters can do? Beside putting unfavorable pictures of opposition parties and writing ghost letters in forums to support ridiculous govt policies which nobody in the right mind would even be bothered to in the first place?
(SINGAPORE) A gold company in Singapore which is promising up to 24 per cent returns a year has become something of a talking point among some netizens.
The generous return is offered by Genneva Pte Ltd, which began operations in Singapore last year and has offices at Orchard Towers and Far East Shopping Centre.
The firm is also connected to a Malaysian company which is currently being investigated by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Genneva here in Singapore is licensed by the Police Licensing Division to deal in second-hand jewellery, gold and white gold. It offers customers full refund at their original purchase prices as well as a 2 per cent discount every month, according to its website.
According to a Genneva salesperson, the customer can walk back into the firm's office every month to get a cheque or cash for 2 per cent of the purchase price. For a 1,000 gm goldbar which costs $55,000, the 2 per cent amounts to $1,100 each month.
The firm sells the gold at a premium of at least 15 per cent over the prevailing market price.
Customers can also sell their gold items back at the end of one or three months at the original price including GST.
'The only risk here is if the company stops operating but you still have the gold which can be sold to any goldsmith or pawnshop,' said the Genneva salesperson.
The firm buys gold from reputable banks here, though if a customers asks specifically for gold from a particular bank, it may not always be available as it may be sold out, he said.
On the Bank Negara investigation, he said that it is common for the central bank to investigate companies if there are complaints.
Attempts to talk to the management of Genneva Pte Ltd has not been successful though one employee said the company is not related to the Malaysian company Genneva Sdn Bhd other than that they share some common shareholders and directors.
On the genneva.com.sg website, under the organisation chart, links between the Singapore and Malaysian companies are shown.
The website also said that the founder is Malaysian Ng Poh Weng who is the production director of Genneva Sdn Bhd.
The Malaysian company, which began operations in 2007, offers a similar investment model - a generous 2.5 per cent return per month with full refund at original purchase prices.
A Bank Negara Malaysia spokeswoman told BT that Bank Negara Malaysia is currently conducting investigations into Genneva Sdn Bhd under suspicion that it is conducting illegal deposit taking activities in breach of Section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 and Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
While under investigation, the accounts of the Malaysian company have been frozen as the assets have been seized by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Charles Ho, president of the Singapore Jewellers Association, said he is sceptical of the return offered by Genneva Pte Ltd.
It's the first he's heard of a gold company with this business model, he said. More people will jump into it if it was so easy to generate over 24 per cent profit margin, he added.
'How do they generate over 24 per cent per annum to cover their profit margin, which they have to in order to pay you 24 per cent?' he asked.
http://www.cpf.gov.sg/imsavvy/infohub_ar...7}&print=1
______________________________________________________________________
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fil...sec=courts
Â
Is this the best ST reporters can do? Beside putting unfavorable pictures of opposition parties and writing ghost letters in forums to support ridiculous govt policies which nobody in the right mind would even be bothered to in the first place?
(SINGAPORE) A gold company in Singapore which is promising up to 24 per cent returns a year has become something of a talking point among some netizens.
The generous return is offered by Genneva Pte Ltd, which began operations in Singapore last year and has offices at Orchard Towers and Far East Shopping Centre.
The firm is also connected to a Malaysian company which is currently being investigated by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Genneva here in Singapore is licensed by the Police Licensing Division to deal in second-hand jewellery, gold and white gold. It offers customers full refund at their original purchase prices as well as a 2 per cent discount every month, according to its website.
According to a Genneva salesperson, the customer can walk back into the firm's office every month to get a cheque or cash for 2 per cent of the purchase price. For a 1,000 gm goldbar which costs $55,000, the 2 per cent amounts to $1,100 each month.
The firm sells the gold at a premium of at least 15 per cent over the prevailing market price.
Customers can also sell their gold items back at the end of one or three months at the original price including GST.
'The only risk here is if the company stops operating but you still have the gold which can be sold to any goldsmith or pawnshop,' said the Genneva salesperson.
The firm buys gold from reputable banks here, though if a customers asks specifically for gold from a particular bank, it may not always be available as it may be sold out, he said.
On the Bank Negara investigation, he said that it is common for the central bank to investigate companies if there are complaints.
Attempts to talk to the management of Genneva Pte Ltd has not been successful though one employee said the company is not related to the Malaysian company Genneva Sdn Bhd other than that they share some common shareholders and directors.
On the genneva.com.sg website, under the organisation chart, links between the Singapore and Malaysian companies are shown.
The website also said that the founder is Malaysian Ng Poh Weng who is the production director of Genneva Sdn Bhd.
The Malaysian company, which began operations in 2007, offers a similar investment model - a generous 2.5 per cent return per month with full refund at original purchase prices.
A Bank Negara Malaysia spokeswoman told BT that Bank Negara Malaysia is currently conducting investigations into Genneva Sdn Bhd under suspicion that it is conducting illegal deposit taking activities in breach of Section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 and Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
While under investigation, the accounts of the Malaysian company have been frozen as the assets have been seized by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Charles Ho, president of the Singapore Jewellers Association, said he is sceptical of the return offered by Genneva Pte Ltd.
It's the first he's heard of a gold company with this business model, he said. More people will jump into it if it was so easy to generate over 24 per cent profit margin, he added.
'How do they generate over 24 per cent per annum to cover their profit margin, which they have to in order to pay you 24 per cent?' he asked.
http://www.cpf.gov.sg/imsavvy/infohub_ar...7}&print=1
______________________________________________________________________
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
Four hit with 796 charges
KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors and a former director of a gold investÂment scheme company have pleaded not guilty to 796 money laundering charges involving millions of ringgit.
The directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 60, face 263 charges involving RM185mil while Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 58, faces 234 charges amounting to RM153mil and Chin Wai Leong, 34, face 210 charges involving RM212mil.
Former director Liew Chee Wah, 56, faces 89 charges involving RM31mil.
The four men had allegedly issued and cashed 364 cheques from illegal proceeds at a bank in Jalan Ampang between July 20, 2007, and Dec 6 last year.
DPP Mohd Haziq Razali asked the court to set bail at RM4mil each although it was a non-bailable offence, adding that the amount involved was huge.
However, counsel K.K. Wong, acting for Ng, Yee and Chin, said his clients were willing to report to the Bank Negara investigating officer every month pending disposal of the case.
Wong said that since Bank Negara had frozen their personal and company bank accounts and their asset of gold bars since July last year, there was no risk of them absconding.
“The company has business dealings in Singapore, Hong Kong and China,†he said, adding that the men, who were first offenders, could only afford to raise RM100,000 for bail and were willing to surrender two land grants as surety.
Wong also said failure to post bail would only result in the “death†of the three companies overseas, affecting some 2,000 clients.
Liew’s counsel Keppy Wong said his client, who resigned from his post last March, had no previous convictions and that he had cooperated with Bank Negara.
Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff then set bail at RM1mil in two sureties for Ng, Yee and Chin, and RM800,000 for Liew, and fixed Nov 16 for mention.
She also ordered the four to surrender their passports.
Later, a Bank Negara senior official said the cheques were used for various purposes, including buying gold, paying investors and remitting cash to their company’s branches abroad.
He said Bank Negara had frozen some RM20mil in cash and RM3mil in gold assets belonging to the company.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fil...sec=courts
Â