AFTER MANIPUR, MALAYSIAN MLM FIRM EXPOSED IN BANGALORE

    CHENNAI, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian-based multi-level marketing
company's dirty trail has been traced to Bangalore, after city police exposed
the financial scam web, with the arrest of three local agents.
    
    The police in India's IT capital believed it was the same
Selangor-registered company which duped nearly 70,000 poor investors in the
far-flung Manipur, India's north eastern state, which was also involved in
Bangalore.
    
    "No doubt about that, it was the same company with many branches.
    
    "They were also operating in Manipur. We think, at least 500 to 1,000 people
could have invested here in the company based in Malaysia," a senior police
officer familiar with the investigations told Bernama in an interview Sunday.
    
    Last week, the police arrested a general manager and an accountant, linked
to the parent company in Malaysia, which offered lucrative returns to investors,
as high as 20 per cent or more.
      
    The so-called wealth-creation company was alleged to have introduced other
fancy investment schemes in 2009, operators vanishing after the company went
bust, leaving many in financial limbo.
  
     According to police investigations, the company had been operating in
Bangalore for almost a year with dozens of local agents promoting the fake
investment model.
    
    "We are expecting more people to lodge complaints after the arrest. This
case has been transferred to the CID (criminal investigation department) as it
involves a foreign company and they will use official channels to investigate
the Malaysian company," said the officer.