Collective Property Investment Schemes - Beware

It was reported in the online Star newspaper today that a number of Malaysians lost the money they invested into a land banking company called Edgeworth Properties Inc. It seems that the said company has gone into liquidation.

This is not the first land banking scheme. Investors would have heard of, or even attended talks given by, or worse invested into, other land banking companies such as UK Land or Walton International. Certain land banking companies based in the UK had expanded into Malaysia,  but with increasing awareness of the risks of such investments and the regulatory void they operate in, many investors have come forward to enquire as to their legitimacy or outright lodged complaints against them. To its credit, the UK FSA has taken action against such land banking companies that operate without an FSA licence. You may find the following information from the UK FSA useful:

How it works

The contact usually comes out of the blue, with most schemes cold-calling investors after taking their phone number from publicly available shareholder lists. But the high-pressure sales tactics can also come by email, post, word of mouth or at a seminar or exhibition. 

Investors are told they will make big profits on small plots of land once planning permission is granted or development started.

But many plot-holders instead lose large sums of money as this permission is often not granted or even applied for, and they are left with a plot that is practically worthless.

While not all land banking schemes are a scam, it is often not made clear to investors that there are restrictions on the development of the land or that it is otherwise protected.

Where it is explained that planning permission still needs to be obtained, promoters of land banking schemes may offer to handle the application process. If this is the case we should be able to help, as explained below.

There are also follow-up scams where plot-holders are asked to pay more money to settle their holding once they realise they will never turn a profit.

Land banking as a CIS

We do not regulate the sale of land. But we do regulate collective investment schemes (CIS) and a firm must be authorised by us to promote or operate them in the UK. 

We can only take action over a land banking scheme when it is being promoted or operated as a CIS without our authorisation. The scheme may be a CIS where:

1. investors do not have day-to-day control over managing their plot;
2. the scheme involves pooling investor funds; and
3. the operator is responsible for managing the scheme as a whole.

It is possible to sell plots of land without the scheme being a CIS. So, many land banking schemes are set up to avoid the characteristics of a CIS – at least on paper.

However, sales people may tell a different story and it helps us prove that a land banking scheme is a CIS if we know what you are told when it is being promoted.

In the Malaysian context, the Securities Commission is the regulatory authority that overseas CIS, and any company that promotes such a scheme must be approved by the SC.

Given today's news on Edgeworth, I was disturbed by a call I received from Avenue Properties Berhad, promoting their novel idea, Avenue Hotel Property Interest Scheme (AHPS). The subject property comprises a 130-room 4-storey boutique hotel together with a Chinese restaurant, entertainment centre, health spa & wellness centre, and food & beverage outlets within a proposed 4-storey purpose-built commercial building at Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth, Penang.

"The public are welcome to invest at RM4,800 per interest-share," said chief executive officer and managing director Richard Woo, in various press releases.Its director of marketing and communications, Khong Yue Chen, said, "In compliance with CCM's requirements and guidelines, we also have appointed a Trustee for the AHPS."  

The press release in The Edge on 16 Feb 2011 said that Avenue Properties, which is capitalised at RM5 million, has established under the AHPS 10,500 property interests of which only 7,350 interests are intended for public subscription. Which means that an RM5mil company can raise funds from the public to the tune of RM35 mil. without approval from either BNM or SC? This is better than going public what with all the investment bankers' fees and due diligence etc. 

From the information I reproduced from the UK FSA's website, don't you think this smells like a CIS?

I had posed a few questions to the AHPS representative who called me. Since he couldn't answer my questions, he said he'd get his colleague to contact me. I'm still waiting. 

He lost his balls today.....

....my Benjie, that is. My 4 yr-old Labrador mix - slight, slim and black.

Been meaning to have him neutered especially since Coco our female Rottie pup joined the family. She hasn't been spayed and since she is a pedigree, we might consider letting her have a litter or 2.

I really didn't know what to expect. I had Benjie tied up while the other females were caged up so as not to have any curious observers. I sat with Benjie at the back porch, waiting for the vet to arrive. Guess dogs do have a 6th sense - Benjie started whimpering and crying. I reassured him.

The vet was kind enough to make a house call, so my maid and I had set up an operating table for him the night before at our back porch. Just a simple square mahjong table, scrubbed down and wrapped in a huge white plastic sheet. The vet was appreciative when he arrived. He was prepared to do the grisly task on the floor right on our front porch!

First thing, sedation. The vet said the jab would be quite painful and requested for a muzzle. When the needle went into his hind quarter, Benjie yelped and struggled. But the drug had already gone in. In less than 5 minutes, Benjie sat down, eyes glazed over, swayed slightly then keeled over, but with eyes wide open.

Benjie was hauled onto the operating table and the vet asked me to keep its hind legs apart while he shaved off some hair around Benjie's groin area. Then out came the blade and the vet made an incision a short distance away from the scrotum about an inch and a half in length The vet proceeded to prod around a bit then started applying more pressure until suddenly pop! Out came a huge pale-looking ball-like organ - the testicle.

Now when this happened, I was genuinely surprised. Oh, my maid and daughter were observing the procedure too. My husband had dropped by the back porch to say hello and then slunk away. My son was sleeping but I don't think he has the constitution to stomach this spectacle anyway. My daughter was fascinated.

The testicle was duly snipped off, after which the vet hunted around for the second ball. Out it came, and off it went. The vet said, "When he wakes up, it will be a whole new world." I bet.

I wouldn't have minded a career in veterinary science. Takes 5 years, just as long as what I studied.

  

Dentist in Ipoh - I'll go with this one - Dr Chong

I've had a number of enquiries about dentists in Ipoh since my last posting about it. And since moving to Ipoh 3 years ago, I finally went to a dentist here for the first time today.

On a friend's suggestion, I tried out Dr Chong of Klink Pergigian Chong. His clinic is at 685A on the Main Road of Jalan Gunung Rapat. It is on the right side - before the market - of the road after you turn in from the traffic light (there's an Old Town Kopitiam at that traffic light).

I got to his clinic around 9.45 am and there were already 2 patients paying and 3 more waiting. There are 2 dentists there, Dr Chong himself and another, Dr. Ed. And 5 dental nurses, which is by far the most I have seen in a dental clinic. I was seen to by Dr Chong.

Dr Chong is friendly, but brisk with a busy air about him. I guess his practice is quite busy and he wants to get on with it. He asked me if I had any specific problems, then went on to check my teeth. He declared them healthy and only in need of cleaning and scaling.

I was happy with his scaling technique as he did not cause my gums to bleed, not one bit! If you've ever been to a dentist who is heavy-handed, you will remember the unpleasant experience of spitting out blood when you rinse your mouth (a dentist at Kwan Dental in Ipoh Garden South is one such example). So I always assess a dentist on the outset by his scaling touch. Pass!

Knowing I was a first-time patient, Dr Chong asked the nurse to give me a complimentary toothpaste when I was paying. Small gesture, definitely business-friendly.

If you'd like to make an appointment, his number is 05 3133 616. 

Time the government woke up

From The Malaysian Insider http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/time-the-government-woke-up/

***********************************

I like what Dr Kamal has written. If you're in a hurry, just read the bolded bits for the gist of the article.

And yes, leaders of the Malaysian government of the day, many of the thinking Rakyat are not anti-govt, and we voice our frustrations not merely for the sake of it, but we are entitled to a properly functioning and accountable government. We vote, we pay taxes (plenty of it - Customs dept just said they collected a record amount of revenue last year from among others, taxes on vehicles. Why are imported cars so expensive in Malaysia??? ).

This country belongs to all Malaysians.
************************************ 

FEB 16 — To the government of the day, please get your priorities right.

Stop planning a policy to tell Malaysians which doctor to go to, and how many times to get sick in a year. Your time would be better spent sending some “I am just somebody’s wife” home to her husband. 

I still am clueless as to why she is so indispensable to the government. As a matter of fact, Malaysians did not even vote for her in 2008. 

The PM should take note of his previous predecessor’s style of management. I remembered ministers, mentris besar, even deputy prime ministers sacked, or made to resign from their much coveted positions, whether they deserved it or not.

Correct me if I am wrong but I have not heard any reassuring statement from the government vis-a-vis this somebody’s wife, except the fact that they had appointed an independent auditor to audit the company’s accounts about two months back.

Just as a reminder to the wise, keeping silent on this issue is anything but elegant and ignoring it will only fuel the angry sentiments of the rakyat today. Already the children — sorry, I mean the company directors — have said it’s business as usual and they do not think it is wrong to use taxpayers’ money to buy vehicles, properties in Singapore of which some were under their names.

This is, yes, referring to the same taxpayers’ fund which was meant to be used for breeding cows to feed the nation.

Such arrogance.

And please back off from the EPF. It is our retirement and savings fund. If the “investment” is indeed guaranteed by the government why won’t the banks take it? Are the banks stupid or is the government assuming we the rakyat are?

As for me, I have no trust in the federal territories minister who cannot even keep KL roads clean, with the city still lacking in good signage, with uninvestigated allegations of corruption during the fasting month involving dishing out licences for stalls at pasar Ramadan. The potholes in KL speak volumes of his ability to properly manage Kuala Lumpur and I am uncomfortable with him helming the project worth billions of ringgit from the EPF.

He is lucky if it is just me who feels that way. 

Instead of coming up with a scheme for the EPF, why don’t you direct your energy to planning a better future for Malaysian degree holders, instead of churning them out on auto-pilot?

I was flabbergasted to find out we are producing some 12,000 nurses a year when the country (public and private) only requires about 2,000 per year. Please tell me that this is deliberately done, because if not then somebody has been sleeping on the job.

Countries like Australia and the UK cannot seem to have enough of them, but here we have an oversupply of undertrained, unemployable nurses that no one, and no other countries seem to want. 

What happened to our Malaysian Qualification Agency that has been entrusted to accredit private colleges?
Why would we need a separate Higher Education Ministry if they cannot even monitor the number and quality of graduates churned out by public institutions?

Before, we had an oversupply of religious teachers. Now nurses. Soon doctors? 

What are you actually doing? Can the government please wake up?

And on February 7, 2012 The Star carried a report and I quote: “The Health Ministry is working on creating vacancies at government hospitals to absorb the large number of unemployed graduate nurses.”

To paraphrase a Malay saying, “wah wah banyak cantik?”

What kind of message are you sending out to the public — that it is okay not to be competitive and market oriented because the government will eventually absorb you whether you are good or not? 

So almost everybody wins. The PTPTN, money-making private colleges with unmarketable graduates, as well as the graduates who according to one report quoted poor English-language skills and lack of interest in science as reasons for their unemployment.

So, the losers will be the tax-paying rakyat, who has to pay to support the burgeoning and otherwise uninterested civil service. And judging by how things are, they will increase the tax and come up with new schemes every time they absorb unemployable graduates to cover operating costs.

Enough is enough.

Rather than drain our money away why not bring the rakyat into the decision-making process by holding referendums like they do overseas? Let us vote and give out piece of mind on PPSMI (teaching of science and mathematics in English), 1 Care, or whether we should allow our EPF savings to be used to finance a multibillion ringgit housing deal.

Are you worried that we may just veto your decisions?

I am not against the government nor am I anti-establishment. I am just pro-commonsense and am sick of the array of nonsense they serve us day after day.

Maybe we should all honk our horns when we drive near Parliament — you know, just to wake them up and remind them that their time is almost up.

Because it’s either they wake up or move out.

By Dr Kamal Amzan

First Day of Standard One, First day of Standard Five

Phew! It's now 1.56pm. I just sat my behind down after a morning of running around since 6.45am. That's when we left the house...to send my son to his first day back at school as a Standard Fiver, and to send my baby girl to her first day as a Standard One-er. How time flies!

Well, the school area around the prime schools - Sam Tet, Yuk Choy and Ave Maria - near the roundabout where Jalan Gopeng and Jalan Tambun converge was alive with the bright red and yellow of car and bus lights at 6.55am. Even this early, the nearest and best parking lots were filled!

After first dropping off my boy, I sent my girl to her school. Being her first day, I went down with her of course. She was pretty calm and said I could go. But I stayed (look who's scared?). I finally left around 730am when the school urged parents to stop haunting the school corridors.

Went home and had some coffee, then my maid fried some vermicelli for the little girl. We both went to deliver her recess snack to her at 915am. When we got there, I found that many parents of the Standard One children had not even left! We accompanied her during recess, then left to do some marketing in town. We had meant to go home after that, but looking at the time, almost 11am, we decided to just go back to the school, because Std. Ones are dismissed at 1215 during the first week, and parking, that is good, near and shaded parking is an extremely rare commodity at this school. Thankfully, I managed to secure a prime spot under a grand old tree that provided lots of shade. My maid and I waited for about an hour, during which time the parking lots swiftly filled up.

1215 came, we waited in the sun for the kids to troop out to the gate, then made our way to fetch my boy. While waiting for him, we had our lunch of steamed chicken and hor-fun soup. I downed mine quickly and walked the short distance to the school to get my boy, who then had his lunch.

Well....day one of school in 2012 is over....it's been hot, sunny, sweaty and fine. I pray that all through this year, everything else will go fine, for my family and me, and for you my friends. 

Old Andersonian Club Cafeteria

We, or rather I've, been meaning to eat here. Hubby beat me to it and sampled lunch here 2 weeks ago. So the whole family went there for lunch last Thursday, I think it was.

It's of course next to the Anderson school and very close to the D. R. Park roundabout. On a tangent, I only recently learned some history about D. R. Seenivasagam, after whom the park is named, from a book entitled "The Chinese Schools of Malaysia". He was a political activist and among those who championed the cause of preserving the teaching of the mother tongue of the ethnic minorities that make up the colourful fabric of Malaysia.

Back to food.............the cafe serves Indian banana leaf rice, altho blogger Motormouth said that it is Moghul food and banana leaf rice. He is probably more discerning than I.

It is a small little building located on a small little road that turns off from the not-so-small D.R. roundabout. There is ample parking space for about 20 cars, and grand old majestic rain trees provide wonderful shade. The ambience inside the cafeteria is relaxed and quiet. I like it! No fighting for car parking space, no fighting for tables, and it isn't hot and crowded. You can tell that the clientele here are the regulars.

We ordered 5 sets of banana leaf rice. Their dal (lentil) curry was a hit with my kids, their fish curry was alright but not sour enough for me. Their rasam (sourish soup) was nice and warm, and also slightly less sour than what I am used to (see, I love sour). Perhaps it's because it's Moghul?

They served an interesting tomoto vege dish that was tangy and sweet at the same time, a raw cucumber and onion salad, and fried cabbage. For the meats, we had their mutton, fried chicken, fish patty and sambal prawns. All went down well. I always have the cold yoghurt (tairu) to go with my rice and my kids have learned to eat it too. The tairu here is fantastic! Cold, thick, sour and rich - yummmeeee!

(picture courtesy from http://www.j2kfm.com/banana-leaf-rice-old-andersonian-cafeteria-ipoh/)

Kellie's Castle

We finally brought the kids to visit Kellie's Castle this school holidays.

It was also somewhere to bring our Singaporean friends who had made the drive up to see and stay with us.

It's real easy to get to Kellie's Castle from Ipoh. We took Jalan Gopeng heading out towards KL/ Simpang Pulai and just keep going. Well, I was driving behind my hubby's car so I didn't really take that much notice of the way, to be honest....

It was a nice sunny day, so we had our umbrellas and hats. We paid for the tickets (RM4 for adults, RM3 for kids) and made our way across the bridge towards the castle. The castle looks suitably old and crumbly so it makes for an impressive background shot. As we crossed the brown swift flowing river, my hubby told the group about his days as a scout when he and his scout mates had to wade across the river! The bigger and stronger scouts would be the first ones to cross and bring a rope along with them. Once safely across, they would hold out the life-line for the rest of the "tender-foots" to cross. Wow! My hubby did that? Sounds like fun. I wouldn't mind doing that too. But the water does seem rather fast flowing.

Not much by way of restoration or conservation really. The castle is empty, not many signs around, just a few hand rails at certain staircases. The Perak State government should allocate some $$$ to conserve Kellie's Castle and provide more supporting facilities if it is serious in making it a tourist attraction. The singular cafe in the grounds has been abandoned and is an eyesore.

The greenery around the castle is pleasant but again more could be done.

Despite all that, the kids still had a good time walking around the castle and reading some ghostly stories on the wall, and some history here and there. We went down into the wine cellar, which was only scary at the top because it looked so dark, but it wasn't very deep. The many rooms are large, airy with high ceilings. We spied a bat sleeping hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms. I guess because the castle was never completed, it is not as impressive a structure as castles you might find in Europe. Nevertheless, it's not a bad short sight seeing trip.

Under Zambry, Perak’s debt hits record billion-ringgit high

(Reproduced from http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=23452%3Aunder-zambry-perak%E2%80%99s-debt-hits-record-billion-ringgit-high&Itemid=2&fb_source=message )

Perak’s state debt has sky-rocketed some 535 percent from RM182 million in 2000 to RM975 million currently, with a RM72 million increase in the past 12 months.

Reacting to this, Taiping member of parliament Nga Kor Ming said the state’s debt for last year was greater than the budget for all state projects such as the micro scheme credit, housing aid, food aid, festival aid, Tabaruk scheme and family economic cluster scheme.

“All those programmes for the people only amount to RM19 million,” he was quoted as saying by DAP's Malay language website Roketkini, at the state’s Budget 2012 debate yesterday.

On the recently tabled RM50.14 million deficit budget, the Pantai Remis state assemblyman questioned the allocation of RM915 million for expenditure.

“The amount is just too huge for Perak," he said, adding that the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department reported that Perak has the highest number of families in the poverty brackets.

Nga said some 192,000 families in the state earned less than RM2,300 a month, representing 12.2 percent of all families in the country under the poverty group.

“This clearly proves that after 54 years under BN, not only has the coalition failed to bring up the state to a respectable income earning status, many of our people still live in poverty, especially the Malays,” he added.

Nga described the state budget as wasteful and aimed to enrich the cronies while using debts to fish for votes by giving out goodies.

"This is just an election budget. But the people see through all this. It may just help PR to win,” he quipped.

-Harakahdaily

**************
Perak is one of the largest states in Malaysia with vast tracts of land and natural resources, yet the statistics for poverty in the state are appalling.

Where are the logistics (port related) and manufacturing sectors to drive growth and generate jobs? One can see those "jaga kereta" boys aplenty in the town area, a sight long since missing from PJ and KL.

Even with Ipoh's well known food, agri produce and cave systems, the State Govt cannot be said to be doing a stellar job in promoting tourism. It is very much left to the private sector. Development and redevelopment in the town areas are haphazard and look largely unplanned. (see comments and views in the Ipoh Echo http://ipohecho.com.my/v2/)

The Star newspaper reported on 22 Nov 2011 that "Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir tabled a RM50.14mil deficit budget for next year." How does a leader table a budget with such a deficit with a smile??

**************

RM100 handout from the government

I guess I really shouldn't be complaining, not that I am complaining. After all, when the government gives monetary handouts to the people, hey, who should complain?

In fact, we should be whooping for joy and say, "What a great government we have!"

Of course, all the above is written tongue in cheek.

It's very hard not to be cynical about this whole "the government is cognizant of the people's burden at the time when a new school year begins, therefore, being sensitive to the people's needs, we the ruling government have in our grand Budget 2012, allocated RM100 for each schoolgoing child from Standard 1 to Form 5. And all hail the government." (this statement is of course fictional, and not attributed to anyone or anything)

Why distribute money now? With EVERY schoolgoing child being eligible?

Elections are definitely around the corner, and the people are being prepped for it through such historic generosity of the government. Is Budget 2012 sustainable? How healthy and wealthy are our country's finances? Will Malaysia's economy be affected in 2012 in light of all the woes assailing Europe and USA?

Well, thank you for the RM100, Prime Minister. I have NEVER received any such benefit from the government before and it is indeed historic, for better or for worse.

MACC's quick peep into RM56,000 binoculars finds 'nothing wrong'

Nov 3 2011 - Would you pay RM56,350 for a product which costs only 3% of that price, RM1,940 to be exact?

And would anyone accept without fuss a product of lower quality, which would have actually cost 50 percent less?

While the answer to both is not in the affirmative, these questions are far from hypothetical. They are being raised following revelations in the Auditor-General's latest report about purchases made by the Marine Park Department.

Yet, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's deputy chief Shukri Abdul said that the commission had found nothing wrong in the purchase.

At the centre of the issue are two pairs of night vision binoculars bought at RM56,350 each. A check by the Auditor General found that they could have been purchased at only RM1,940 each.

As if that is not enough, it was also found that the supplied binoculars - no, they are not plated with gold - were not the ones ordered, but are non-night vision binoculars that are worth only RM1,069 each in the market.

MACC is known to be a tough graft-fighting department. Critics have even questioned its no-nonsense approach, particularly in the manner it handled the late DAP officer Teoh Beng Hock, who according to a Royal Commission of Inquiry into his mysterious death, could have been forced to commit suicide due to the interrogation tactics.

However, a case as clear as the one pointed out in the Audit report involving the Marine Park Department needs no further investigation nor tough interrogation, only action. So what is the graft-busting body's next course of action?

"We have suggested that the department take strict disciplinary action against the officer involved," said Shukri.

Not surprising. After all, the MACC itself has been named by the Auditor General as one of the nine government departments which overspent by a total of RM3.73 billion.

- Harakah Daily
(Reproduced from the Malaysia Chronicle at http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22339:maccs-quick-peep-into-rm56000-binoculars-finds-nothing-wrong&Itemid=2)

***************************

Well, well, with the next General Elections clearly on the way real soon and PM Najib having annnounced a seemingly election-and-rakyat-friendly Budget 2012 (whether it is financially sound for the nation has been questioned) the shortcomings of the BN Coalition and dire need for them to clean up their act on many fronts are painfully obvious.

Going down to the ground, dressing young, having teh tarik with your constituents do not substitute the need for a strong leader with integrity and one who truly has the interest of the nation and all its rakyat at heart. No selective prosecution, no selective handouts, no selective scholarships please.......free. fair, transparent and accountable are the pillars of government today, as Queen E said, govts must  move forward to meet the challenges and needs of the future.