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| Picture: Khao Sod |
Angry Thais, who were also scammed in the Touchwood agar wood forestry project, have stormed a police station in Bangkok demanding action be taken either by the Thai Police or Department of Special Investigations.
Thai investors claimed they had been defrauded out of 70 million Thai baht by Australian-Sri Lankan citizen Roscoe Maloney and his wife. They were not getting dividends on their investment in agar wood as the company Touchwood did not have the funds.
Thai nationals who had made repeated complaints to police without any action. In frustration they called at the Thonglor police station in force.
There were in total some 75 complainants. A very harrassed Lieutenant Chiraset of Thonglor police said he would gather the statements for the DSI.
The 75 Thai complainants now join westerners based in Dubai, Thailand and Hong Kong who have also been scammed in one Maloney’s Ponzi’s.
Maloney of course hopped it quite a while back and a sale of all Touchwood (Thailand) assets is not going to raise any where near the cash invested.
Maloney, left, furthermore has now based himself on Australia’s Gold Coast in Southport where he is now the subject of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
However this should not be interpreted that ASIC has any teeth.
The recent Australian senate inquiry into ASIC showed just how incompetent they really are. In particular there was the case where they were far too slow to take action against the Commonwealth Bank over a scandal in its financial planning arm. A brief summary can be watched here.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-10/a-mea-culpa-from-asic/5382428
The following are some quotes from the website of the Banking and Finance Consumers Support Association about what was made public at the inquiry.
# What a miserable bunch these highly paid public servants turned out to be. Now the long suffering public can see why so many retirees have lost money in listening to Financial Planners and the FP Industry. Thanks to the tenacity of the Senators in a bi-partisan approach at serving the people well, we can see why so many pensioners have lost their homes to corrupted Banks and Lenders. Toxic Managed Investment Scams, toxic Low Doc Mortgage Loans, collapses all over the place, straw companies……the list is endless and the losses more than $200 billion and why?????
# ASIC public servants did not give one hoot…..as long as their mates were safe. These people had not stepped outside to even meet a consumer….would not know what one looked at. ASIC cost me in particular 15 years of my life, trying to clean up an industry and assist people who were left dangling helplessly from the cliff top, staring into the abyss of financial ruin and in some cases death from stress and despair. No-one cared, least of all ASIC overpaid luminaries.
# Yesterday, at the Senate hearing into ASIC PERFORMANCE, not one of these self-centred monsters said "sorry," to any of the tens of thousands of consumers who had complained about Bankers and corporate directors to ASIC. Instead everyone of the complainants received the usual ASIC created letter (circa 1998) "bugger off – go and get a lawyer – see if we care."
# The excuses uttered were pathetic. Senator Williams didn't hold back and neither did the Chair, Senator Mark Bishop – good men and true, who were appalled at the evidence that has been forthcoming against ASIC's profound, systemic and sustained negligence and malfeasance in public office.
# ASIC's non action against the perpetrators was profound and carried on for nearly 2 decades. A policy of "just bury the bodies and move on." Tanzer said: "if not we are off to court." Personally and on behalf of our members, I hope you are all charged with gross negligence and covering up criminal activity in the disgraceful world of white collar crime.