Recently this newspaper had reported on a vegetable for export scheme in which investors were offered as much as 35% returns monthly on their investment. Though the man behind the scheme has said that investors will get back their money it is not certain that all of them will.
Recalling his experience, Mohabeer said he was introduced to the investor by a workmate in 1990. He said the investor had operated an import/export business out of a stall at the Stabroek Market. The prospector sought investors to whom he would pay 10% per month on their investment.
According to Mohabeer, the investor exported Colgate toothpaste to Trinidad, while importing mattresses and toilet paper. Mohabeer decided to invest $2 million, which was his savings spanning 15 years and with which he had planned to build a home for his family. However, he said that as the months passed, he did not collect his interest and it remained invested in the business. He was given a Promissory Note which stated that the investor would pay him $3.2 million, representing his investment and the interest accrued but this was never honoured.
He related that in 1992, the investor stopped paying interest and was about to leave the country. Newspaper records show that he was arrested at the airport. Subscribers to the scheme retained counsel and the matter was taken to the High Court. The amount owed to investors was about $56 million. However, the investor declared bankruptcy and as the matter continued some of his assets were seized. But Mohabeer said most of the assets were in the investor’s relatives’ names. He said too that a psychiatrist testified that the investor could not stand trial. Mohabeer won his case but never received any money.
In April 1994, Colgate Palmolive (Guyana Ltd) sued the investor claiming over $2 million representing the balance of the price of goods sold and delivered by the company, according to newspaper archives. According to the statement of claim, the transaction was conducted under invoice number 56595 dated July 13, 1993 and it was agreed that the sum would be repayable on or before November 18, 1993. The company said demand for payment was made to no avail.
Mohabeer said that he wanted his story to be told as a warning to others regarding their involvement in schemes that promise high rates of interest to investors. He believes that in the light of the major scandals involving Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford in the United States, persons should take heed.
“They prey on human weakness,” he declared noting that after the friend told him about the rate of interest he would earn, he joined in even though he had to build a house for his family. “All human beings would run for that,” according to him. He said that one investor in that scheme had invested $12 million.
However, the man says that he has accepted his losses and moved on.
In a similar case recently, this newspaper had reported that investors were offered a 35% rate of return monthly if they put their money into a vegetable export ‘business’, which began operations several years ago. Hundreds of persons invested but were not paid their profit since the year began and the matter was reported. A police source had told this newspaper that as much as $150 million was invested.
The man, who lives in South Ruimveldt, was arrested but owing to the reluctance of those affected to give statements, he was never charged. He later told this newspaper that the investors would be repaid but refused to comment further.
