ufunclub-logoWe’d heard rumblings of a meeting between Thai and Malaysian police supposedly taking place either earlier today or yesterday, but as of yet no further news had materialized.

Speaking to Thai media from the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok, Counselor Fauzi Khan Ismail has announced that Malaysia is finally set to begin investigating uFun Club.

About bloody time!

Thai and Malaysian authorities will work together to investigate the alleged Ponzi scheme run by UFUN.

Fauzi Khan Ismail, a counsellor at the Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok, Friday said the crackdown on the alleged scheme would be a priority in the cooperation between Thai and Malaysian police.

“Both sides will have joint meetings in Phuket between May 11 and 14, with UFUN being a key topic,” he said.

US affiliates earlier this week declared Malaysia had “no problem” with uFun Club.

The welcome news of a Malaysian investigation arrived on the heels of Daniel Tay announcing plans to invest billions of dollars in an Indonesian nickel mine.

In a video published on YouTube, Tay claimed that over the next few years, uFun Club affiliates could expect to share in a profit of around $6 billion USD.

6-billion-dollars-profit-nickel-mine-indonesia-ufun-club

Supposedly that money will be raised by selling the mined nickel to China:

nickel-demand-china-ufun-club-marketing-video

With Tay himself telling viewers uFun Club won’t have to “worry about the buyers”, because “demand of nickel is very high in China”:

daniel-tay-nickel-demand-high-china-ufun-club-marketing-video

The only problem?

Indonesia banned nickel ore exports in early 2014, with the ban still currently in place. Further to that, nickel also dropped to a record 6-year low back in March of this year.

The price of nickel has picked up since then, but it’s still down about 38% from this time last year.

In any event, what with Indonesia now taking the Thai investigation seriously, I think anyone who thinks uFun Club will be around for years to come is pretty delusional at this point.

For now, the mine shown in the uFun Club marketing material appears to be little more than a few paddocks, a shed, some shipping containers and a lone excavator:

paddocks-nickel-mine-indonesia-ufun-club

shed-nickel-mine-indonesia-ufun-club

Stay tuned…

 

Update 9th May 2015 – Additional information regarding the joint-investigation from The Nation:

Fauzi Khan Ismail, a counsellor at the Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok, yesterday said the crackdown on the alleged scheme would be a priority in the cooperation between Thai and Malaysian police.

“Both sides will have joint meetings in Phuket between May 11 and 14, with UFUN being a key topic,” he said.

Fauzi yesterday met with a Thai police team, which was formed to deliver help to UFUN’s alleged victims. Also present at the meeting was assistant national police chief Lt-General Suwira Songmetta.

Suwira said Thai police had provided information on suspects to Malaysian police and asked for the neighbouring country’s help in arresting them.

Fauzi said he would urgently forward the information gleaned at yesterday’s meeting to Malaysia’s police chief.

“This is an important issue. Malaysia has a specific law to crack down on Ponzi schemes,” he said.

“Two other suspects wanted by Thai police have already left Malaysia, though,” he said.

He added that of the three Malaysians facing Thai arrest warrants for their alleged role in the scheme, one faced more than 10 charges in Malaysia.

Fauzi said that upon the official request from Thailand, Malaysia would set up a team to investigate UFUN and check its flow of money.

“With that, we can make arrests and order asset seizures,” he said.

Assuming he too doesn’t flee, I’m tipping we’ll see Dato Dan arrested by the end of the month.