EOW take AISPA President Melvin Crasto in custody
Hot on the trails of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) charging Speak Asia with money laundering, roughly 2 hours ago or so the All India Speak Asia Panelist Association (AISPA) put out an update on their website stating:
In a surprise move throwing caution to the wind the Mumbai EOW has picked up Mr. Melvin Crasto the president of AISPA for interrogation.
In the past AISPA Secretary Ashok Bahirwani has repeatedly stressed the separation between AISPA and Speak Asia stating that he has no direct contact with Speak Aisa management.
A fortnight ago the EOW stated that Speak Asia was the ‘the biggest multi-level marketing fraud‘ they’d ever investigated, so what exactly the EOW would want with Melvin Crasto (photo right), who is a panelist but publicly has nothing to do with the running Speak Asia, remains a mystery.
Anju Argarwal, who comments on BehindMLM in favour of Speak Asia published the following update on Facebook shortly after the initial AISPA announcement;
Anju Agarwal: the eow is on the lookout for ashok bahirwani.
Currently having a criminal investigation open into Speak Asia, no doubt the Crasto interrogation and lookout for Bahirwani are related. But again, what AISPA and its management have to do with the criminal investigation remains unknown.
I’ve long charged that AISPA are simply the unofficial mouthpiece of Speak Asia, as they often seem to be merely pushing the company line and updates inbetween the infrequent postings to Speak Asia’s official Blogspot blog.
In their initial announcement, AISPA stated that ‘a detailed update will be posted shortly’ but as of yet nothing has materialised.
After the EOW release Crasto (if they decide to), AISPA will have a meeting to discuss the best way to spin the event in Speak Asia’s and their own favour before publishing anything. And who knows how long that will take.
When an update is published by AISPA, no doubt Bahirwani will still manage to somehow push the Speak Asia official line that the EOW are sitting on their hands doing nothing, despite this obviously being untrue.
I imagine he’ll tell us all just how irrelevant the interrogation and questions put forth to Crasto were and that nobody has anything to worry about.
Or he could come clean and just be honest. We’ll have to wait and see.
Still, once further updates come out expect a full analysis. Till then, stay tuned.
The EOW AISPA’s President in for interrogation… interesting indeed and I can’t say I saw that coming.
Update 25/11/11 2:15am – The AISPA update still hasn’t been published, but the big news is that following the EOW picking him up, Crasto has since been arrested.
From Anand Prasad, over at Facebook;
Friends our Melvin Sir has been arrested by EOW Mumbai, We are hopefull to get Update on this matter by tomorrow afternoon.
Relax Jai Speakasia
The President of AISPA is mysteriously arrested and they want people to relax?
What Crasto was arrested for remains a mystery until AISPA/Speak Asia’s unofficial leaders clarify it.
Following Crasto’s arrest it is believed AISPA Secretary Ashok Bahirwani and his sidekick, Aman Azad, have both gone into hiding.
Bahirwani is not taking phone calls and Azad is ‘is fine but away from net‘.
Update 25/11/2011 10:39am – No information yet on what Melvin Castro has been charged with, but he’s due to appear in court later today. A Facebook update by Anand Prasad;
Kind attention all our friends from Mumbai, Melvin Sir is to be produced before Qila court at around 02 PM 1400 hrs.
No further word on the whereabouts or status of Ashok Bahirwani or Aman Azad, or whether or not they’ll make an appearance at court.
Update 25/11/2011 7:21pm – Crasto has been remanded in the EOW’s custody for 7 days (Friday, 2nd December).
Speak Asia’s senior members are still not sharing what Crasto has been charged with. No doubt they don’t want the charges, if they are serious, to dampen the mood come Monday’s Lahoti mediation (which seems more pointless now than ever with Crasto behind bars).
Whatever Crasto has been charged with regarding the operations of Speak Asia, the EOW believe it’s serious enough to hold Crasto in custody so he can’t flee like the rest of Speak Asia’s management.
And if there are no charges, the senior members aren’t sharing what the EOW’s suspicions are either (you can’t just hold someone for 7 days without good reasoning and/or suspicion).
Speak Asia’s senior members insist that Crasto has nothing to do with the running of Speak Asia, nor is he an employee.
AISPA Secretary Ashok Bahirwani remains MIA. Nobody is saying where he is or what their status is.
His sidekick, Aman Azad has come out of hiding now that the hearing is over and has since made an appearance online.
Update 26/11/2011 1:06pm – The Times of India are reporting that Melvin Crasto’s actual name is ‘Melvin D’Costa’. I wonder why he’s using an alias?
“He was not only a panelist but also a prime promoter of the company,” said Rajawardhan Sinha, additional commissioner (EOW).
“He could not explain the transfer of around $3,000 in his account,” he said.
$3000?! Why is the President of AISPA receiving deposits of $3000 from Speak Asia??
Which other top panelists are receiving secret payments from the company?!
Footnote: Whilst I appreciate that Speak Asia’s activities mostly affect Indians in India, please respect that this is an English blog. Comments in Hindi will not be published.
Someone has reported on speakasia.mobi that Mumbai EOW has picked up AISPA Secy. Ashok Bahirwani for interrogation.
Crasto was originally ‘only picked up for interrogation too’. Maybe Bahirwani is next to be arrested, or they’re wanting his information to further incriminate Crasto (but we still don’t know what the charge is there).
Hello Oz,
I think you are having too much of interest in Speak Asia’s case, that’s why keep on following all these happenings, also you are trying your level best to stop the activity of the company to operate or move little forward by making panelist to give / file case against the company.
In your last article named “The Rajmani criminal PIL against Speak Asia” you have clearly mentioned about that in comment session. That’s fine, i can understand your good intention of bringing Speak Asia to the justice.. Your only attempt is for that alone nothing other than that.. Many of them not understanding you properly..
By seeing the way case still going & going.. for me things looks little suspicious, Is this EoW needs this much of time to trap a company who has done fraud?
The Answer is No way..! Something fishy is there..! Things should not delay at any cost, whatever the judgement is.. it has to come in front as soon as possible.. What is your view Oz..?
Honestly Ritesh I have no idea what your point is (or if there is one) for the bulk of your comment. One of the side effects of Speak Asia pushing for a closed community that disbelieves any information except what the company puts out is you start to think everything is a conspiracy theory against you.
I’ve been writing about MLM long before Speak Asia even existed and I’ll continue to do so in the future. I’m a spectator in this and merely analyse what happens.
You remember what analysis is don’t you? Too many Speak Asia members don’t think to stop and analyse the horseshit this company continues to feed them. They just blindly wait for communication which never comes (when was the last time anyone heard anything official from Speak Asia) and continue to post their religious pictures on Facebook superimposing pro Speak Asia rhetoric over them.
Oh, and there’s no such thing as ‘too much information’ when we’re talking ponzi schemes involving hundreds of millions of dollars. The only people a lack of information serves well are those running the scam.
Whilst I like anyone do question the lack of action on the EOW’s behalf, I do acknowledge that there is a criminal investigation still currently open into Speak Asia. As such, we’re not privvy to the workings of that and won’t know the details of which until it is concluded.
Quite obviously as the investigation progresses things are happening, and yesterdays arrest and the ED money laundering charges are clear evidence of that.
Once this SFIO report is handed down in December I imagine we’ll see a lot more regulatory action.
There is no judgement because there is no case that has been formally concluded and presented to be judged yet. One can’t help but wonder what impact this latest arrest will have on Mondays mediation process.
Until the criminal investigations are concluded and charges filed, there’s nothing to pass judgement on.
As if you’re not interested? Come on… That’s pot calling the kettle black. What’s your point? You don’t like people telling the truth about AISPA or SAOL prefers AISPA’s spin or SAOL’s bull****? You can always go there instead of hanging out here.
You give Oz way too much credit. If one blog can do what you say, what can 2 million panelists do? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Is it your assertion that SAOL panelists are sheep, doing whatever other people telling them to do? If not, you’re sure implying it.
Looks like Speak Asia are wanting to surround the Quila court this afternoon with an angry mob, as if that will somehow pervert the course of justice or change anything. The crime has already been committed.
Amusingly Speak Asia are pleading with members to show up, without even telling them what the charges are that Crasto faces.
When was the last time you heard of a criminal charges being dropped due to an angry mob showing up?
From Facebook,
So he’s in hiding then. I wonder if he’ll mysteriously turn up in a hospital somewhere feigning sudden illness?
I also wonder if Tarak Bajpai will make an appearance today at Quila, or will he remain in hiding.
Maybe it’s a lynch mob. 😀 One can always hope. 🙂
On the other hand, it’s not unusual. TVI Express supporters in South Africa were supportive of the two that got arrested earlier this year. They are too tied up in the scam to turn against it.
Saol has panelists fm al our ìndia nd we are happy with our company…
Why are these agenies creatìng problm to milions of people acros ìndìa,are these agencies meant for welfare of society or for creating uncertainies among people ,ì want answer
These agencies are ment to bring those reponsible for running pyramid schemes to justice.
Just because a million people joined a pyramid scheme doesn’t all of a sudden make it legal.
bstard you are a pay agent of ant speakasians…that is why ur spreading rumours about saol
There’s no rumour about the fact that Speak Asia took in membership money and paid out commissions to people based on how many people they recruited.
That business model is documented fact, it’s also the reason Speak Asia is a pyramid scheme and the EOW have been investigating them.
bloody idiot stop this dirty business of rumours…u rascal anti speakasian
we are happy with oue saol who the bloody hell are u to interfare…..
Read above. There is no rumour in fact.
The only idiots are the ones who refuse to accept what’s blindly staring them in the face since May 2010.
Lots of frustrated people about it seems. This is what happens when a pyramid scheme fails you and you lose money.
Really…? You think I’m interfering. The banks shut Speak Asia down because of the EOW/CID criminal investigations into Speak Asia.
The criminal investigations exist because Speak Asia is a pyramid scheme scam, I’ve got nothing to do with it son.
our family consistys of 20 lakh panelists and we are proud to be speakasian,ass whole dnt publish base less news in your blog u barrowed guy,we have full faith in a logical concept known as speakasia
in the near future our number will reach to crores keep it in mind.people fm all religions and regions are working in saol,i think u need a psyche treat coz u have not undrstood the logical concept of saol.
How big your ‘family’ is is irrelevant. The only thing of relevance is Speak Asia’s business model.
No I’m pretty sure I got it. Take in membership fees and pay out members with these fees each time they recruit someone else.
That’s pretty much it. Fake surveys aren’t even worth mentioning because they pay peanuts in comparison.
Oh and any nonsense about selling electronics and such is a lie, because it never happened.
Bandwagon fallacy at work… (look it up, folks) Either that, or it’s “mass delusion” at work. Worst case? Cult. Take your pick.
Oz i don’t mean that way.. You are having all freedom to write your own way, but please don’t fight with these people, i’ve seen many people who have put all their hardly earned money into this ponzy, pyramid scheme and waiting to get back their money (in my office), i feel pity for them.
See how they are shouting in this blog, sometimes i use to think – if they get back their money they’ll be fully satisfied. But, what to do? chances are very less… Am I right?
Rumors started by SpeakAsians on Facebook… AND facts reported by Indian newspapers.
It’s not Oz’s fault if there’s so much dirt about SpeakAsia to dig up… What is he supposed to do: pretend they aren’t there? “Turn a blind eye to it”?
u rascal close this illegal blog……
@sanjeev
Illegal blog? Now what on Earth is an illegal blog?
Oh… you mean publishing information and opinions that shatter the ‘we’re definitely going to win’ delusion Speak Asia’s members keep telling themselves.
…nothing illegal about that. Here’s a tissue.
@Ritesh
I honestly don’t know if they’ll get their money back, but I do know that if they do, Speak Asia has to go down first.
Think about the disaster of 1.2 million member accounts looking to sucker a whole bunch of new members into the scam. What happens when all these new members can’t find anyone to recruit??
@Kasey
Speaking of Facebook, since today’s hearing the unofficial leadership group has clamped down on what information panelists can and can’t share.
They’ve locked down all new posts unless published by the admin team. Panelists are free to contribute to the topics set by the admin team but they can’t start new topics themselves.
Turns out panelists bringing their own ideas and information to the table was too dangerous for them to handle. The AISPA website has been locked down all week and now Facebook is too.
So much for speaking your mind.
our money is in safe hands we have nt lost it it is in a cocept whch is approved by millions of indians,and other nations,,,,
dont be over confidnt coz we know wat is gud and wat is bad ,itz our money who the bloody hell are you to interfare….
Mate your money was stolen overseas and is being wasted on court appearnces and funding the Tarak Bajpai, Manoj Kumar and Harendar Kaur retirement fund.
When was the last time anyone directly heard from or saw any of Speak Asia’s management?
And you, you speak for millions of Indians do you.
Pyramid schemes are illegal the world over, get over it. They’re illegal in India too, hence why Speak Asia is being criminally investigated.
Oz , You your self have a hidden identity , why don’t you come out in open and debate the Business Model of SAOL. Let me see what all logics you have against this model.
You don’t need to know my identity to debate the Speak Asia business model.
The model is simple pay peanuts to do fake surveys, and huge commissions to members who recruit the most new members.
There are no corporate survey clients (nobody paid 3.8 million USD a survey) so all commissions are paid out of new member’s membership fees.
What does my identity have to do with it?
@oz — I think we need to refer them back to some rehash over either your old posts, or the alleged explanations posted by Anju and others. The record is broken and things are repeating.
@Kasey
I’m going to wait and see what happens this week. In the meantime I’ve just published an analysis of where we’re at heading into this coming week.
Speak Asia are doing their best to censor their panelists’ thoughts and discussions. Meanwhile they themselves are refusing to answer what’s really important. Birthday cakes and rainbows… really?
the toi could not even get his name right forget about the rest of their ‘report’.such a shame.