KUALA LUMPUR: A company executive's hopes of earning an easy income by participating in a palm oil plantation investment in Sabah using his inheritance from his father failed when he and two other members of his family were cheated of almost RM1 million.
The 42-year-old man who only wanted to be identified as Tan, his brother and mother, had invested in the scheme introduced by his late father's friend nine years ago.
"I invested a total of RM280,000 while my brother invested around RM200,000 in August 2014 by using the inheritance money left by my late father.
"At first, we were attracted to invest as we were promised a return of eight per cent per year. I was also facing financial difficulties at that time, which led me to invest as I needed to have a long-term stable income.
"In fact, I was also informed that the company was registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) and there were many advertisements about the investment in newspapers, aside from being promoted by VVIPs, thus leading me to be interested in joining," he told reporters outside the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) office, here, today.
Tan said an eight per cent annual return initially and this led his mother to invest as well, in early 2021, with a capital of RM400,000.
"However, after eight years of investment in Aug 2021, the company gave me various reasons when I asked them to return the capital and promised returns.
"My mother's fate was even worse as she did not receive the eight per cent annual return even after two years of participating."
Meanwhile, Tan added that he was also upset when the company planned to conduct the annual general meeting (AGM) in Sabah on Sept 27 to discuss the conversion of their capital investment into ownership of the company's shares.
"We recently received a letter from the company stating that they want to change the investment capital to shared ownership and that the proposal will be raised in the AGM.
"(And) truth to be told, I don't want the company's shares as they have admitted to having no money. Hence, what's the benefit of being partners then?
"We also feel like we are being forced to convert the investment capital into ownership shares when the AGM is being held in Sabah despite most investors being in the peninsula.
"Hence, I want the company to return the capital, as well as the promised return because it is my father's inheritance and is something that is close to my heart."
MPAJ councillor Yew Jia Haur said it was believed about 8,000 investors participated in the investment with the Sabah-based company, with a total capital of RM600 million approximately.
"The amount of investors and investment was obtained from the company's agent itself.
"It is believed that most investors are among small traders and retirees who are illiterate and cannot speak Malay or English.
"Therefore, we want the investors who feel like they have been deceived by the company to contact us at 017-4573854 so we can take further action," he said.
