speak-asia-online-logoEarlier this evening it was observed that the Supreme Court had received former Justice Ramesh Lahoti’s report following the conclusion of the Lahoti Committee.

Setting a hearing date of January 9th, many Speak Asia panelists have deluded themselves into thinking this is some kind of final judgement on the business operations of Speak Asia.

Whilst it is true that the particulars of the Solomon James writ 383 petition do mention a restart of business operations, the fact of the matter is that a petition filed by a civilian, even in the Supreme Court, is not simply going to override months of criminal investigation into Speak Asia.

The fruits of such investigations we are only beginning to see.

In what I believe is the first formal criminal charge laid against Speak Asia, after booking Speak Asia for money laundering back in late November, yesterday on Tuesday the 3rd of January, the ED formally lodged a money laundering case against Speak Asia.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday registered a case against Speak Asia, a Singapore-based online survey company, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with a multi-level marketing scam

With the EOW investigation progressing nicely (the latest development being computers belonging to Speak Asia officials and associates being sent away for forensic analysis), and the IT department having also stated that Speak Asia are guilty of tax evasion, it’s clear that the ED money laundering case is just the beginning.

At this early stage complete details of the ED case against Speak Asia and any resulting court action is unclear, but one thing is certain:

You’ve got to be pretty delusional if you think the Supreme Court is going to allow the largest ponzi scheme in Indian history to restart business operations and process money transfers. Even moreso now that there are official charges laid against the company for money laundering.

Here’s hoping the other agencies conclude their own individual investigations and file their respective charges against Speak Asia, sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile on the 5th of January, Speak Asia go toe to toe against the EOW in the Raigad (writ 3210) and Thane (writ 3211) Districts of the Mumbai High Court. In these two writs, Speak Asia seek to stop the EOW from continuing their criminal investigation into the company.

…what a joke those hearings are going to be.