FINALLY: Speak Asia charged with money laundering
Over the past few months, much has been made of the lack of filing against charges by any authority against Speak Asia.
For the most part, this has been seen as conclusive evidence by Speak Asia members that the company is wholly innocent and that the pyramid business model the company uses is unquestionably legal.
That illusion was shattered today with the news that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have formally charged Speak Asia with money laundering.
Details are currently scarce and with the Supreme Court ordered mediation process between Speak Asia and its panelists set to take place tomorrow, you can be rest assured the company will do its best to diminish the gravity of the charges laid out against it.
The ED charge is interesting because last we heard the ED, along with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) were waiting on a report by the MCA’s Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) due out in December.
Whilst the MCA (and possibly EOW and CID) await this report before officially filing any charges, it seems the ED in the meantime feel they have enough evidence to be the first to officially file charges against Speak Asia.
The ED
has booked the company under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly sending Rs 900 crore out of the country, disguised as remittances.
A remittance is defined as ‘a sum of money sent, esp. by mail, in payment for goods or services or as a gift‘. With Speak Asia collecting money from panelists for membership, it’s clear that the 900 crore siphoned out of the company into CEO Harendar Kaur’s bank account in Singapore was not remittances.
Rather the company sought to send the money out of India and then once firmly out of reach of the Indian authorities launder it between Harendar Kaur and associates’ various bank accounts and associates to disperse it, thereby making it difficult for any authority to trace the money and track it.
It remains to be seen if these latest charges filed against Speak Asia will have any bearing on tomorrow’s Lahoti led Supreme Court mediation process. Details are currently scarce as to the next steps forward following the ED’s formal charges against Speak Asia.
Most likely though any hope of panelist payments will be put on hold indefinitely until the charges and any subsequent legal action are played out. No doubt these latest money laundering charges against Speak Asia will only further increase a reluctance by any bank in India to do business with Speak Asia.
As I’ve been stating for quite some time now, without the participation of the banks, and mediation process and hope of payment to panelists is ultimately useless.
Being the weekend I imagine more details about the money laundering charges by the ED will be made available over the next 24 hours as we head into Monday the 20th November’s mediation process with concrete uncertainty.
Will the mediation process go ahead? Will the money laundering charges be played out in court? Can we expect to see other government agencies (especially the EOW and CID) file official charges against the company now that the ED have got the ball rolling?
And perhaps most importantly, will Speak Asia’s panelists finally admit that the regulators and authorities in India have most certainly not been sitting on their hands for the past six months. Victory is most certainly not close at hand and despite the lies Speak Asia have spread about a business model they never used over the past year or so, they are still wholly legally responsible for running a pyramid scheme between May 2010 and May 2011.
Speak Asia CEO Manoj Kumar, did not respond to repeated phone calls and an email.
Additionally, another point of interest was the AISPA update issued yesterday by AISPA secretary Ashok Bihirwani. In the update, Bahirwani issued a strict warning to panelists;
Do not waste your valuable time and money in calling me… as starting with immediate effect… I am not going to be discussing the SAOL matter on phone.
Now unless the ED are working Saturdays, I imagine the money laundering charge was filed sometime on Friday. This means that Speak Asia must have known about the charge on Friday and by proxy, so did AISPA and Bahirwani.
Does it come as a surprise just 24 hours that Bahirwani has announced he’s no longer taking phonecalls regarding Speak Asia over the phone?
Not really.
Ask yourselves this, if Speak Asia cut and run tommorow – who other than the company’s panelists would be left holding the bag?
Ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing the long delayed end game of a pyramid scheme and if it’s not too late – hopefully there’s still a chance that some form of justice will be served.
Stay tuned.
Update 4th January, 2011 – On January 3rd 2011, the ED have officially registered a case against Speak Asia for money laundering.
what can you say? plz clearly news give us.
Analysis aside,
1. Speak Asia has been charged by the ED for money laundering funds out of India.
2. The mediation has been moved from tommorow the 21st Nov to apparently the 28th
3. A criminal PIL may or may not be heard this coming Wednesday 23rd Nov. Everything else is relating to Speak Asia is being delayed so I wouldn’t be surprised if this too is further delayed.
As expected things were going.. for Behind MLM..!, now CEO Manoj Kumar is hiding somewhere & he’s not going to come back to give all money collected from members, you are telling “hopefully there’s still a chance that some form of justice will be served..”
for our friends who have put their hardly earned money into this ponzi scheme — can you explain me in detail — what chance is there? I can’t understand.., It is simply time passing as usual i say.., the reason for me to tell that is..
Even if they recover all the money from frozen accounts, do you think they can settle that to all members whoever put their money in this ponzi & pyramid scheme.? No way, it can’t be done unless company comes forward & give its own money from hands.. It can’t happen also.. as you are telling.., no one knows where is Mr. Manoj Kumar?
Still i can’t understand one thing.. why those media channels who use to reveal SpeakAsia’s fraud first not giving this news.. It is a big surprise & question mark???
Also none of the media except LiveMint & MoneyLife has told the News about EoW, SFIO, Income Tax, ED’s complaint on SpeakAsia. But CNN IBN has told as ‘Relief for SpeakAsia’ and shown the Court Order News whereas all other medias hasn’t shown that and still it is a big mystery now, how they are going to give payments to all its members???
Can you explain What is happening with Media? Who is right & Who is wrong? Why each & every one giving different news? Can you explain..
Waiting for your answers… Sir..
Hindustan Times is the first paper to publish this news..
“Speak Asia has been charged by the ED for money laundering funds out of India..” I hope they would have got this news directly from ED.. Am I right?
Why ED has not told this news to other medias Or why other media not giving this news?
I don’t know when that Criminal PIL will come into High Court for hearing, or else it’ll be handled by Mr. Lahoti itself,
Many of them eagerly waiting for this case now..
huh
@Ritesh
…going where? I’m not financially invested in Speak Asia, don’t you get it?
That’s not happening ‘now’, that’s what happened six months ago back in May.
When was the last time Manoj Kumar and Harendar Kaur made a public appearance?
For that matter, when was the last time Tarak Bajpai made a public appearance? He’s a free man now isn’t he?
The money is gone and I was talking about Speak Asia’s management. Like the authorities I believe the priority is in nailing what management are left and if possible going after the publicly known leaders with international co-operation.
If any money is recovered then by all means distribute it amongst panelists, but that shouldn’t be a priority – nailing the company and management for running a ponzi scheme should be.
You seem to have misconceptions about how the media works. Reporters get exclusives and other media outlets aren’t required to report the same information.
Whether it’s Money Life, The Hindustan Times, Times of India, Mumbai Mirror or whoever, just be glad the information is getting out there. If we had to rely on Speak Asia to inform us of updates we’d know nothing but the biased crap circulated by senior panelists. None of which have publicly mentioned the money laundering charge to their followers last I checked.
Honestly, first it was a co-ordinated media conspiracy against Speak Asia, then for a while it was the government, and now you’re whinging that reports are only being carried by one media outlet at a time.
Perhaps if Speak Asia didn’t throw down useless lawsuits that serve only to restrict information, rather than carry any real merit (they won’t be heard until long after Speak Asia has either been cleared of or found guilty of the charges against it), the media wouldn’t be so cautious in their syndication of reports about Speak Asia unless they themselves have sourced the information firsthand.
@Oz,
Nice Answers, Now I can understand, you are answering clearly, i like the way you giving the answers.
Just now i got an information from a person who called himself as a ‘panelist’, told me like company’s website is not loading or that website is totally down from this late evening & also logging is turned OFF.
You use to tell that website is in the control of Speak Asia company only. So, now it seems that they have planned to halt their website permanently. Why EoW is not telling that they don’t have the control of Website with them?
I don’t think govt. can do distribution of money what ever remains in frozen accounts of Speak Asia to all its members, that much of money might not be there and also this kind of thing hasn’t happened in India ever before with any other company. Your views..
I have made a post at http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Speak-Asia-charged-with-money-laundering/Article1-771556.aspx.
I firmly believe a government must be answerable to it people. That is what Anna Jan LokPal bill is all about. The loot must be returned to the panelists as they are the people as, otherwise, we can do without an impotent government who along with its departments are living off by taxing the people.
That can be confirmed with a visit to speakasiaonline.com.
The EOW have denied ‘seizing’ the server, but they never explicitly ruled out having login access to it, which Speak Asia maintain they do. Speak Asia assert that the EOW have login access to Speak Asia’s server (hosted in Singapore) as it was handed over by their Indian based tech team.
Why the EOW don’t clarify this one way or another is anyone’s guess. Personally I think they need access to the website but with all the games Speak Asia plays with hiding it’s management and what not I see no reason why they’d give up access to the website, especially when they’re under no obligation to do so seeing as it’s hosted overseas and out of the EOW’s jurisdiction.
As for the error itself,
It appears the machine the website is being hosted on has run out of space. This is most likely due to logs (of what I don’t know) filling the harddrive to capacity without having been routinely cleared.
I’m not too familiar with the specifics of Ajax or the server side of things but this is how I understand it.
The government can legally clear Speak Asia, they won’t distribute the money – that is up to the banks to do. They won’t do it of course until Speak Asia are cleared. If they transfer any money for Speak Asia and the company is later found guilty of anything they will then be liable (and potentially legally responsible for helping a criminal company). This is pretty much what the RBI circulatory from way back when warned the banks about.
The money that was frozenin India isn’t much compared to what was siphoned off overseas since May 2010 when Speak Asia started. I can’t remember how much was frozen in India (too tired to look it up now) but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the amount to cover what is owed panelists.
The real issue is the hundreds of millions USD that Harendar Kaur shipped off to Singapore and then laundered through her various companies. Unforatunetly I believe that money is long gone, but if they can nail Speak Asia management on it then at least that’s something.
@jutamaro
Unfortunately Speak Asia’s money laundering efforts has seen the bulk of Speak Asia’s ponzi scheme profits sent overseas, well out of reach of the Indian government.
The only way it’s coming back is if Speak Asia transfers it back into India and the banks allow it (which they won’t do unless the company is cleared of criminal charges and any criminal investigations into the company are concluded).
Harendar Kaur had the opportunity to pay panelists when she won an injunction for a few weeks back in June I think it was, but instead she chose to send over 100 million USD over to Singapore into her retirement fund before the CID managed to get the injunction lifted in court and freeze what was left in India.
That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Speak Asia’s genuine efforts to pay panelists.
yes jutamaro you are correct, but yet it hasn’t happened the way you are asking to this govt. in this country, let’s wait & see what they are going to do.
Now speakasia is totally finished, they have stopped communicating to their members & also they have closed their website also, they did fraud and govt. allowed it all these days, they kept quite and watching all these days silently – almost for one year..
@Ritesh — but then, critics of SpeakAsia have been speaking out against it for a lot longer BEFORE the government get involved.
Don’t expect the government to save you. You need to be smart yourself (not you specifically, Ritesh). It is called “due diligence”. I have discussed this in one of my articles about fraudulent companies.
Dear Chang,
You are telling all of us to be so smart enough to avoid these kind of companies, I will accept that, we both of us can avoid that, we are smart enough but the actual fact is how many people will be like us?
see – many of our friends unknowingly trapped into this, many of them brainwashed & they don’t know the reality, what i’m asking is.. why can’t govt. impose bans on these kind of companies which loot public money and vanish in few days? why they can’t bring some laws to stop this illegal criminal activity? That was my question.
Pyramid scheme laws are always going to be reationary. You’ll note that it is a crime to run ponzi and pyramid schemes but unfortunately that can’t stop people from starting them.
Much in the same manner murder is illegal but the law itself doesn’t direclty stop someone from committing the crime, rather it’s a deterrent.
They can increase the penalties for participating and running such scams, but as long as greedy people join these scams with dollar signs in their eyes without stopping to think about the business model they’ll exist.
Moreso when it’s apparently quite easy in India to dupe 1.2 million people into wholeheartedly believing anything you say even after you’ve cut and run with 100’s of millions of dollars overseas and haven’t been seen or heard from in months.
@soap
“…but as long as greedy people join these scams with dollar signs in their eyes…”
We are not all greedy people. In these times of inflationary trends due to an impotent government we are just trying to make ends meet. Inflation rate is more than the rate of bank deposits. Playing the stock market is dicey and anyhow this is for long-term.
I for one was looking for monthly income to help tide over bad times. Having some “loose” money at one time I tried this plan as my upline friends showed the credits coming into their bank accounts. I just joined at the wrong time. I should have joined six months earlier.
My upline pals have assured to return my membership fees for two IDs if nothing comes out of all this mediator business as they have made plenty. It was a long time since I had burnt my fingers with a scam. The last time, over 10 years back, was with Sohonet, Hyderabad.
Coming to our government, how come they cannot issue an Interpol Notice to bring Haram Khor (originally hailing from Punjab, India), Global CEO of Speak Asia to India? India has such agreements with many countries including Singapore.
Cmon Jutamaro, have you learnt nothing from this whole debacle?
Pyramid schemes pay out those who join at the start, until they get too big and fall apart – like Speak Asia has done.
The fact that they pay out at the start doesn’t make them legit or in any sense of the word sustainable, and they’re certainly not ‘for long-term‘. Mathematically they are never going to work because they rely on new recruits and there’s only so many people in the world.
Had you of joined earlier you’d simply have been ripping off some other people by getting them to join as your friends have done to you. Are you comfortable with that?
If your friends have agreed to pay you out and actually made decent money from Speak Asia, I can guarantee you they can’t pay everyone out. What about the people they’re not paying out?
Probably because court action hasn’t been brought against the company yet. Speak Asia has to be declared an illegal company before Interpol are going to get involved. Also when was the last time anyone actually saw Harendar Kaur (is Haram Khor the same person?), she could be anywhere enjoying their millions by now.
You know, when a new movie is ready for release (or before they are ready for release), the producers first send a copy to the Censor Board in order to get a Certificate. I wonder if the same could be applied to these ponzi schemes that originate in India. It can also be applied to companies originating from other countries and operating in India through a master franchisee or a branch office.
If it were mandatory for every MLM company or companies that give high returns to investors or members to submit or showcase their business to a certain department of the government in order to get approval to run their business, would it not work?
Those companies that do not get approved but continue to run can be shut down, declared illegal and their bosses put behind bars.
Off Topic: According to Urban Dictionary, “Haramkhor” is one who earns his kicks by doing what he is not supposed to be doing. More at http://www.bollywhat-forum.com/index.php?topic=14039.275.
A movie is a movie though and countries that classify them classify all movies.
MLM companies are companies so who is going to first classify a company pro-actively as a MLM company for regulation?
To complicate the matter you also then have clowns running around insisting their companies aren’t MLM when they clearly pay commissions out on multiple levels within the company memberbase.
Again, the problem here is that these scams don’t start paying out high returns until they gain momentum and a whole bunch of people start signing up. At launch they will easily fly under the radar if high commission payouts is the criteria.
Ideally the reaction time of the authorities and manner in which companies are investigated needs to be streamlined. At present there’s what 4-5 authorities investigating Speak Asia and at one point cases in at least three seperate courts wasn’t there?
Also this loophole of sham overseas based companies operating in India with no regulation or legal liability needs to be plugged. It’s crazy that a pyramid scheme like Speak Asia can be run from Singapore/Dubai, be shut down, get an injunction in court re-opening their bank accounts, transfer over a hundred million USD out of India and then send in the member-funded lawyers to deal with the aftermath whilst the CEO’s sit back and relax in locations unknown with their millions in dollars.
The courts should have demanded the CEO’s present themselves at the hearing before any injunction was granted and if possible, from the first day Speak Asia appeared in court.
Thanks for clearing that up. I’m not familiar with Hindi terms, I thought it was an actual name lol :).
@Jutamaro ….
All MLM/Pyramid schemes are based on the concept… U get money which is paid by your downline, who in turn could be ur friends, relatives, etc. So even if you join a scheme earlier, still someone near and dear one is gonna loose money….
@riyfkm
This a common misconception of somebody who doesn’t understand MLM business models.
A pyramid scheme (non-legit MLM company, ponzi scheme, whatever you want to call it) has no retailable products or services. Instead they simply pay out commissions based on the recruitment of new members (Speak Asia).
A legit MLM company has products and services that you can sell to non-members.
In both instances there is a grey area where both are present (retailable products and services and recruitment commissions), and it is in these cases that the company needs to be examined to determine whether it’s recruitment based or product based.
One of the things I usually look for in my reviews actually.
In the case of Speak Asia, they paid out chump change for surveys and huge commissions for the recruitment of others – so the distinction between a pyramid scheme and legit company is blindingly clear.
Not neccesarily if there are retailable products able to be marketed and sold to non-members.
Pyramid schemes fail because new recruits dry up and those who joined last make no money. Legit MLM business models rely on product sales, and the continued ongoing revenue generated by these sales.
I thought I had solved the problem to some extent but you are right, these clowns will be screaming out loud that they are not MLM. Besides, knowing my country, it won’t be surprising if money (read bribe) is passed under the table in order to acquire a licence.
There is one ABC-QUIZ that I know of or rather used to know. Their Marketing Officer lectured to me that theirs was not a Ponzi scheme but today, they are unable to pay their members. If that is not enough, the MO launched a new site called MLM Dhoom. You can see his name and number at the ‘Contact Us’ page.
Talk about ‘think out of the box’…..LOL!
We can’t stop these MLM companies coming out & doing its business in India, it is not that much easy unless this govt. comes forward and announce some regulation and stringent rules for all category of business in MLM, because today this MLM schemes has come almost in all businesses.
Of course, Oz, K. Chang were correct in their ideas and i welcome both of them. Jutamaro, you completely misunderstood the concept, it is not fair to tell that you have not joined this company earlier, what does it mean?
I’m accepting rest of the things whatever you have told, but not that sentence. After seeing so many people talking about this company which has come in the news from past few months i got interest to study about MLM in India.
I found presently there were so many companies doing its business in India like Speak Asia.. I have seen so many companies recently and among them some of them are..
http://www.eurasiacreations.com/
(selling cheapest chinese products & also they claim many Products & Services coming up in future)
http://localadclick.net/
(claiming they are working in 65 countries & still expanding their business)
http://www.ekutirindia.com/
(they tell Google, TATA as their clients & using their banners everywhere)
http://bidworld4u.com/
(Malaysia based bidding MLM company seems to run-away very soon)
http://voiceofpeopleonline.net/
(looks same like Speak Asia)
http://www.virginvideoads.com/
(with the help of the points they are offering to do mobile recharge)
After Speak Asia, many people shifting to all these companies in my office and each & every person taking one company and started promoting themselves. Fate of all these companies will be worst after few days..
It’ll be nice if you start to take some research on these companies and tell your reviews..
Govt. has to stop all these nonsense in India..!
SpeakAsia CHANGED their business plan, as they presented in court a business plan it had NEVER IMPLEMENTED. So, no, that won’t work. All you’re doing is introduce yet another layer of bureaucracy, AND basically add another charge: lying about one’s business model if they are found to be fraudulent (i.e. presented one case, then operated as something else).
IMHO of course.
Wow, wow, wow, hold on there. MLM is supposed to have a difference from pyramid schemes, and indeed that is what MLM industry had insisted for DECADES that there are several crucial differences.
On the other hand, critics of MLM claims the differences are superficial and mostly irrelevant, as basically the goods have substituted for money.
I can see both sides of the issues, and I’ll tell you my own view:
MLM is a fundamentally flawed business model that is ALWAYS on the danger of slipping into pyramid scheme unless constantly corrected. It *can* be operated ethically, but such operations are actually quite RARE.
That’s my view and I am sticking to it. 🙂
http://kschang.hubpages.com/hub/Networking-Marketing-is-doomed-to-failure-its-all-about-the-dream-not-reality
Interesting, as “haram” is an Arabic word meaning “forbidden” (literally: unclean), often something outlawed under Shariah. Guess languages aren’t THAT different. 🙂 It’s opposite is “halal”, as in food fit for Muslims.
See if corporatefraudswatch.blogspot.com will look at them. I’m not friendly with Shyam Sundar but I admire what he does He’s a bit sensitive when anybody claims MLM can be legal, as he thinks all MLMs are pyramid schemes, period, and he bans anybody who dare suggests otherwise. 😀
Well, other than the acknowldegement that there is supposed to be some criminal PIL today in Mumbai, once again I can’t seem to see anything on the court lists so who knows. I don’t think anyone has given a case number in the matter.
Meanwhile it looks as if Speak Asia have filed a criminal PIL against the State of Maharashtra which is due in court on the 12th December. For some reason this PIL has been filed in both Raigad and Thane districts.
No idea specifically what that’s about. but it appears Speak Asia are trying to quash a First Incident Report lodged against it.
Once again Speak Asia’s wonderful information blackout between itself and the panelists works its wonders.
According to speakasiaonline.mobi, it was not Mr. Navneet Khosla who had filed the criminal PIL againt SAOL in Mumbai High Court, but Mr. Raj Mani. During today’s hearing, Mr. Raj Mani’s lawyers asked for a week’s time to withdraw the criminal PIL which has been granted by the Hon’ble Judge. Now this PIL will be withdrawn next week.
So last week they needed a week to discuss the mediation and this week they need another week to withdraw the PIL?
Why didn’t they just withdraw the PIL today?
Assuming they could (didn’t Speak Asia withdraw something on the fly a while back?) withdraw it today, it doesn’t really make sense to ask for another week.
@soap
The criminal PILs in Mumbai court that you are referring to were WP/3211/2011 & WP/3210/2011 both dated 15/10/2011 against the State of Maharashtra filed from Thane and Raigad. I think these were for rearrest of Tarak (COO)who then conveniently went into hiding in a hospital.
@observer
“Now this PIL will be withdrawn next week.”
After this there is no other case against Speak Asia other than in Andhra Pradesh towards which the AISPA claims that the Supreme Court has given “notice” to release the case.
So we are all back to the civil matter of Jonathan James SC matter where SC has formed the Retd. Justice R.C. Lahoti committee, unless EoW/ED comes up with its “watertight” case in late December by which time the SC may have decided on Lahoti mediation. Would then SC reopen the case?
@jutaramaro
Ahh right you are. Although they are still listed for the 9th December and are currently pre-admission. Are they formally withdrawn, is the court hoping Bajpai is out of hiding by the 9th or what’s happening here? This seems external to the mediator stuff.
Speaking of mediation, I think until the EOW officially close their case (including the CID/RBI/ED and MCA, who are waiting on a report due in December), no bank will touch Speak Asia and thus no payouts are possible.
Think about how the mediation process is going to go,
Panelists: we want money
Speak Asia: and we want to give you money
Lahoti: So what’s the problem here?
Speak Asia: no banks will transfer our money because of the investigations
Lahoti: Well I can’t order them to because I can’t guarantee liability, so let’s wait till they’re finished
…and then we’re back to square 1.
If anyone has another scenario as to how the mediation process will play out I’m all ears.
Meanwhile I’m still curious as to why I can’t find today’s hearing on the high court database (along with case number), nor why the lawyers supposedly need a week to withdraw their PIL.
The unofficial Facebook group admins (Speak Asia members at the top of the pyramid) are getting rather aggressive against people asking questions they can’t answer;
Unless you swallow the official company line and don’t ask any questions, it appears they’ll cut you off.
Bahirwani isn’t taking phonecalls about Speak Asia, Speak Asia’s management have been in hiding for months (when was the last time anyone actually saw Bajpai, Kaur or Kumar?) and who’s left are doing their best to censor the remaining narrative to their own ends…
…wonder what happens next.
Ah, the BITE model at work.
Behavior control
Information control
Thought control
Emotional control
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_control#Deprogramming_and_the_anti-cult_movement
Censorship and banning critics would be thought control, behavior control, and information control.