Investment firm boss threatens to sue BNM

Kota Kinabalu: Gemilang Mirza Sdn Bhd (GMSB) Managing Director Ag Binting Pg Salleh insisted Friday that his company is running a legal business and will take legal action against Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) for Wednesday's raid on his Papar office. He claimed to have necessary documents to prove that relevant government agencies had supported his business. "Being the founder, the GMSB is running its business legitimately," he told reporters, Thursday. BNM raided the GMSB office on suspicion of illegal collection of deposits and money laundering following public complains. Relevant assets and documents were seized for investigations. The raid was conducted under section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institution Act 1989 (BAFIA) and section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financial Act 2001 (AMLATFA). Section 25(1) of the BAFIA 1989 prohibits any person from receiving, taking or accepting deposits without having a valid license while section 4(1) of AMLATFA 2001 prohibits any person from engaging in, or attempting to engage, or abetting the commission of the money laundering activities. According to Ag Binting, thousands have benefited from GMSB's profit sharing concept and none had complained of not receiving dividends since his company began operations. He reiterated that his company's activities mainly revolved around producing its own brand of produce and the people were investing jointly on "a profit sharing concept". Last year Ag Binting told Daily Express in an interview that GMSB reaped profits of between 50-60 per cent from the sale of their products and Ag Binting said his investors enjoyed profit sharing of between 10-12pc every month. Ag Binting claimed that at one time GMSB had about 30,000 investors. However, along the way the number reduced to 25,000. On the amount, he said people were investing in the region of anywhere from RM5,000 to RM50,000. On how much GMSB had collected from investors, he revealed it was in the region of up to RM3 million. However, he declined to reveal the amount of money that was reported missing in GMSB's bank account. He had lodged a report at the Papar police station last Sunday about the missing money. He said the missing money was an internal matter involving his family and that the case was considered closed. On how he would face his investors since BNM had frozen all his bank accounts as well as properties, Ag Biniting said he urged all his investors to be clam, patient and understand the situation and problem he faced now. "After BNM had completed their investigations I promise to find a way to pay back the investors," he said, showing a book containing signatures of his investors expressing support for him and GMSB.