Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Finance company sealed, bank accounts frozen

By K. Manikandan

CHENNAI AUG. 21. With the arrest of Goldquest officials in Chennai, where the company's India headquarters is located, police claimed to have exposed yet another alleged money circulation racket. Over 50 members have filed complaints stating that the company owed around Rs 12 lakhs to them.

The arrested persons include Pushpam, a Malaysian citizen of Indian origin and company managing director, Joseph Augustine, accounts executive, and Pushpendra Kumar Shukla, public relations officer.

They were produced before Arul Raj, additional chief metropolitan magistrate at Egmore, who remanded them to judicial custody till August 27, according to an Inspector of the Central Crime Branch investigating the case.

The company office, located on the ninth floor of the Rain Tree complex on McNichols Road in Chetpet was `sealed' and its bank accounts frozen.

The CCB sources said cases were registered in April this year and investigations began following a complaint from an advocate, Chandrasekhar. He said he paid Rs 16,800 for purchasing a gold coin described as a collector's item by the company. According to him, he was informed that the coin would be handed over to him only if he introduced 10 more people to the company. As he was unable to bring 10 people into the network, the coin was not handed over nor was the cash returned to him.

The Inspector said though they received complaints from more than 50 people, they acted on the one lodged by Chandrashekar and added that complaints from the rest would also be amalgamated.

The complainants alleged that they paid sums ranging between Rs 16,800 and Rs 43,000, but neither did they receive the gold coin nor the cash return to them. The CCB personnel claimed that the arrests exposed a scam to the tune of around Rs 12 lakhs. They said a search was on for Vijay Eswaran and Jeevan Muktanandam who were reported to be in Malaysia.

According to S.S. Krishnamurthy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, CCB, cases had been registered against the company officials under provisions of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act and section 420 of the IPC.

Though no spokesperson of the company was available for comment, some members, like K.Viswambharan of Natural Health Foundation who gathered near the CCB office, said the company did not insist on any one to be part of the network. "The customers can either make a part payment for the coin and pay the balance while collecting it, or participate in the network. This is the practice the world over, not in India alone", he pointed out.

The coins are minted at the Myers Mint in Germany and imported by the State Trading Corporation, he said and added there was no question of any financial irregularity at any level.

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