Multi-level marketing: Seeking legitimacy

Sucheta dalal

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has released a discussion paper on its plans to regulate private fund pools to reduce fraud and market risk. While some private equity (PE) fund managers expressed surprise at this move, we are told a few top PE funds support the plan because registration and regulation, they believe, will give them an identity that is separate from speculators, such as hedge funds, who also take the Mauritius route to India.
 Meanwhile, we learn that multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs) and others with powerful political friends are also lobbying for greater legitimacy. They have stepped up pressure to amend the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978 which lumps MLMs along with dubious pyramid marketing schemes making them illegal in India. The rest of the world makes a distinction and bans pyramid schemes, even when they pretend to sell a product/service. 
Along with dubious Ponzi schemes, beleaguered collective schemes are also seeking legitimacy. For instance, Osian’s Art Fund, which is unable to repay investors, is seeking to place its assets under a trusteeship company. So does the Jaipur-based PACL India Ltd (or Pearls) which has collected a massive Rs20,000 crore on the pretext of investing in land and expanding its network through MLM. PACL has appointed a top Supreme Court lawyer and is shopping for a trustee company to legitimise its claimed land holdings on the Indo-Pak border. 
Even controversial Speak Asia was desperately trying to register a presence in India and diversify from shady surveys into real products to re-position itself as a direct selling company. It probably hoped to follow the politically-connected GoldQuest, (reborn as Q-Net) selling a bunch of products, including watches and holiday packages, with investments ranging from Rs30,000 to Rs7 lakh. There are over 10,000 (police estimates) quick-money schemes operating in every state and digging a hole into the savings of people by luring them with false promises. Unfortunately, no regulator wants to touch these ‘private fund pools’.


Sucheta Dalal

Who is Sucheta Dalal

Andhra Pradesh government banned SpeakAsia ads in there state.

The state government has banned SpeakAsia Online Pvt Ltd from issuing advertisements and any material connected with money circulation scheme.
A decision to this effect was taken by the state government following recommendation by the Crime Investigation Department (CID). So far, the CID officials have arrested six persons for carrying out the operations of SpeakAsia Online Pvt Ltd.
"Every copy of the newspaper and every copy of the publication containing such material and advertisement connected with any Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (banning) Act, 1978 as promoted or conducted by SpeakAsia Online Pvt Ltd/ Haren Ventures Pvt Ltd in contravention of the provisions of the said Act shall be forfeited to the state government," an official release issued here on Tuesday said.

Do multi-level marketing firms need a regulator?

he recent arrest of the top officials of SpeakAsia for allegedly duping its 1.2 million investors (or panelists as SpeakAsia calls them) of Rs 1,300 crore again underlines the need for a regulator for all businesses that sell goods or services based on the multi-level marketing (MLM) model. It is important to note that not all ‘panelists’ of SpeakAsia are against the company. Going by the news reports, there is one SpeakAsia Panelist Association claiming to have support of 150,000-200,000 members, which is showing complete solidarity with the company. Neither the arrests nor the show of solidarity point to the criminality or innocence of SpeakAsia as the case may be. However, these two extremely polarised views on the issue definitely point towards a gaping hole in the regulatory framework.
It is not for the first time that a company that sells its products or services using an MLM framework has got marred into a controversy – Amway, Japan Life and many more have courted controversy and legal proceedings in the past. Given the way regulatory framework operate for these businesses, such controversies would keep cropping up unless the regulatory framework changes from being reactive to being pro-active.
Typically, in multi-level marketing (also known as direct selling using network marketing) a person gets rewarded not only for selling the goods and services by himself but also for referring other members to join the business and for the further referrals by that other member and so on. Usually all those companies that sell their products or services by this method project a pyramid type structure wherein the person at the top is shown as earning huge quantity of money on account of business done by people below him which in trade jargon is called ‘down-line’. Innumerable companies offering multi-level marketing schemes that present lucrative opportunities to their participants to make quick money have come up time and again and many a time questions have been raised on the legality –- at times on the business model per se and at other times on the scheme being promoted.

Apart from general view that such schemes are fraudulent, the business organised on the lines of multi-level-marketing is often perceived as a money circulation scheme and thus in violation of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978 (“the Act”).
The issue whether a business model based on MLM or network marketing by its very nature of organisation is bad in law or not came up for judicial scrutiny in the case of RMP Infotech Private Ltd. v. Apple FMCG Marketing Private Ltd. A Division Bench of Madras High Court opined that MLM schemes cannot be declared outright illegal, unless the scheme in question has elements that render it illegal.
As regards the elements that render a particular scheme illegal, the Supreme Court in the case of State of West Bengal v. Swapan Kumar evolved a two-pronged test that finds basis in Section 2(c) of the Act. To hold a particular scheme illegal in law, (a) it must be proved that the scheme is for making quick and easy money and (b) the chance or opportunity of making quick and easy money depends upon the enrolment of members into the scheme.
The test laid in the Swapan Kumar ruling has been applied subsequently by courts in adjudicating upon the legality of different multi-level-marketing schemes. Surprisingly, the only two cases where the courts evaluated MLM schemes in details came to the conclusion that schemes in question were bad in law. One such decision was by the Supreme Court [Kurianchan Chako v. State of Kerala] wherein the scheme in question was held to be a ‘mathematical impossibility’. The other decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court [Writ Petition nos. 20470 and 20471 of 2006] wherein scheme of Amway India was viewed as “so ingeniously conceived that the inducement for aggressive enrolment of new members to earn more and more commission is inherent in the scheme. By holding out attractive commission on the business turned out by the downline members, the scheme provides for sufficient inducements for its members to chase for the new members in their hot pursuit to make quick/easy money.”
Thus, as far as law is concerned, the principles are well laid down and position is very clear and ideally in such a scenario there is very little scope for confusion or controversies. However, the sole reason why we have had repeated controversies concerning such schemes is the way and manner in which the Act is implemented.
The Act is a central legislation and the States have been empowered to govern it. The Act bestows on Police the power to search any premises that may be suspected to be used to promote or conduct any money circulation scheme, seize all things found in these premises and to take into custody all such persons that are concerned or against whom the complaint has been made.
The problem with the scheme of implementation of the Act as far as multi-level marketing is concerned is that the Police more often then not is approached only after the crisis has reached its crescendo and as the nature of business involves a network of persons, the number of complainants or complaint is generally huge. Thus the Police is required to act under tremendous pressure and there is no time to first determine whether the multi-level marketing scheme in question is a money circulation scheme or not – a prerequisite required by the Police to take any action under the Act. What follows can be best described as a 'knee-jerk’ reaction.
A possible solution to this problem lies in the Act itself. The Act in its transitional provision envisage a role for the Reserve Bank of India as the specialised agency in consultation with whom the States were required to wind-up chit fund and money circulation schemes prevalent at the time the Act came into force. The Act also provided for States to frame rules in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of the Act. It is pertinent to point out that the Act was enacted pursuant to findings of a study group constituted by the Reserve Bank of India to examine in-depth certain provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
Thus when the Act was enacted the RBI had an important role in the formulation of policies or rules under the Act. However, in practice RBI does not figure anywhere in the determination of the issues as to whether any multi-level marketing scheme has elements of money circulation scheme or not. As the issue largely hinges on the financial model followed in the scheme, ideally RBI as the specialist body should determine this issue and this determination should not be left to the Police or the Courts.
Unfortunately, RBI instead of taking a pro-active role chose to take a back seat and came out with a Circular in 2003 eliminating its role in the implementation of the Act. This act of RBI was discussed in the 8th Lok Sabha though in a different context [(proceedings other than questions and answers) Title: Shri S. Jaipal Reddy called the attention of the Minister of Finance and Company Affairs to reported illegal schemes of Japan Life of India and steps taken by the Government in regard thereto.]
Today we have several multi-level marketing schemes operating in the country with no certainty whether these schemes conform to the Act or not. Further, many of these schemes are operational in more that one States. This may lead to a situation where the company running a multi-level marketing is subjected to multiple prosecutions. There could also emerge a scenario where the same scheme is held good in law by one State and bad in another. In case of Speak Asia complaints were filed in more than one State.
As any popular scheme involves large number of individuals who earn their livelihood from such schemes and a subsequent finding of the scheme being illegal may adversely impact them, it is important that we move from the present reactive to a pro-active determination mechanism. In order to achieve this and also to overcome a situation of multiple prosecutions being launched against the same scheme by different States, the following is suggested:
1. RBI shall be frame general rules under the Act on multi-level marketing schemes which may be notified by the States at their option;
2. The rules shall require all multi-level marketing companies operating in the States that has notified the rules to get their scheme evaluated by the RBI before commencement of the business;
3. For the already existing schemes, the rules shall provide for a two year window to get the scheme evaluated by the RBI
These steps will go a long way in ending the uncertainty that multi-level marketing business model currently faces and will reassure many who earn their livelihood by being part of such business. This will also ensure that no money circulation scheme camouflaged as genuine business will be able to dupe lay investors or members. Further, this will bring succour to the promoters of multi-level marketing schemes from any Police action that may be initiated at the behest of disgruntled members of the scheme.

Speak Asia Online Website will be operational in next 2 days

he latest news about Speak Asia Online Pvt Ltd management reveals that the website www.speakasiaonline.com will resume its operations within next one or two days. As announced earlier, the exit option will be functioning when the original website is operational within the next few days.
The EOW (Economics Offense Wing) has made significant progress on the investigations last week. At any time, it is expected they will release a positive statement with a set of guidelines to be followed in order to continue the survey program. There are no clues about what are those conditions and every one is eagerly waiting for the final hearing.
After the announcement of exit option by the SAOL management, there are both positive and negative opinion from the panelists. Those panelist who are confident about SAOL's management, they say that once the operations are started with the modified policies (if applicable), the business growth may not be like the case earlier to the EOC incidence, but on a long run, this may not be a big problem to the SAOL's vision.
It has been noticed that many panelist has forgotten their  sponser id details as there is nowhere an email or any document issued to the panelist with the sponsor id information. This has created a strange situation to lot of panelists and they necessarily need to login to their panel to fetch this information in order to apply for the exit option.
People who have joined the program recently who has got negative opinion about SAOL, may find the exit option very attractive. They may choose to exit from the program safely so that a major filtering will happen post the exit operation.
Hence, it is expected that all is happening is good for the welfare of both Speak Asia Management as well for the Panelist. The panelists have waited for so long, now the climax is just awaited in the next few days.


MLMNewsBlog

Newspaper Article -EXIT Option

This article was published in a hindi newspaper -"hindustan" on 11th September after the company proposed its EXIT policy.

"www.speakasiamarketing.com" research analysis

"EXIT Option" Started....

As it was notified by the speakasia officials on 1st august,now the EXIT option has been opened for
its panelists.


The official note made was as follows:-


In continuation to our exit policy notification dated 1st August 2011, please find below the terms and conditions for awaiting of the exit policy option.


Since panelists have joined SAOL at different stages and time, the possible scenarios in case panelists chooses to EXIT will be as follows:


NO Reward points (henceforth referred as RP ) earned after becoming a panelist:
If you have recently subscribed to the E-Zine and have not participated in any of the SAOL activities or no RP's have been credited in your account then you can opt out of your association with SAOL by agreeing to these terms and conditions and filling up the attached form. By doing so you will a refund of your entire subscription cost less the registration amount to your bank account mentioned in your profile. The e-zine subscription shall cease to be sent to your mail ID and you will no longer be associated with SAOL.


RP's Earned lesser than Subscription Cost:
In case you have en-cashed or used RP's, whose total value is less than the subscription cost, these RP's shall be deducted from the cost of subscription and the balance will be credited in to your bank account. The ezine subscription will later cease to be sent to your mail ID and you will no longer be associated with SAOL.


RP's en-cashed or used are more than subscription cost:
You are welcome to participate in SAOL website since your participation has earned your RP's more than your subscription cost. You can now utilize the RPs for various revenue generating activities of the company once restart of our services is allowed in India.
In order to exit you are required to fill and submit the attached form. In order to fill the attached form, you will have to agree to the terms and conditions mentioned in this policy by clicking on the I agree button at the bottom of this page. Your details will be verified with the company's database and a confirmation mail will be sent to you. This is subject to gaining access to the company's servers from EOW Mumbai.


Amounts due to you will be sent by telegraphic transfer from Singapore and the company's amount lying in the accounts of the master collection representatives of HVP in India. This is subject to getting an assurance from the RBI in India that these transactions will be allowed to be credited to your accounts in India. ( Alternatively the company is also actively exploring the possibility of transferring the total amount along with the list of recipients to either a designated court in India or a competent authority that the court may wish to appoint for this purpose.)


All the amount lying with the company in Singapore are being legally reserved for making the payment to the panelist and cannot be used for any other purpose.


If the panelists EXIT, it is their sole responsibility to satisfy the queries raised by any of the authorities. Once the decision to EXIT is taken, it cannot be reversed. Any rewards due to the panelists who exit will not be processed and will not be contested by the panelists.


Some points to be noticed here:-

• Though the exit option is made available,the request won't be processed until the company gains access to there servers.i.e until the official website starts its normal functioning. 
• If the account of the panelist falls under any of the above mentioned categories he will get his money back according to the conditions give.
• Even after the approval for the refund panelists will have to wait for the RBI clearance.

In my view one should not opt for EXIT option.The company is pretty much sure that there business will be restored soon that's why they are giving this EXIT option,and when the company comes to its normal  functioning the panelist will start getting there incentives regularly. Anyways those opting for EXIT option won't get there money back now,but only after everything becomes normal they why to hurry?

We should look it as a positive gesture of the company towards its panelists.

High Court Hearing - 7/09/11

Since EOW was unable to show anything negative in court today, court has given the judgement that EOW and SAOL has to sit to gather and resolve the case by paying back the money to all panelists . So mostly they will be sitting tomorrow onwards for further discussion.
AISPA Association’s PIL: They need more time which is granted till 21st Sept 2011.
AISPA PIL which is against ROC, MCA, EOW. its hearing is over, in which EOW was not present and MCA and ROC asked for 14 more days for submition of its Final report, which has been granted saying its the Final Extension. No Evidence found against SAOL yet.
Note: AISPA PIL case & SAOL case are both different so do now worry for AISPA’s hearing.


The Updates are:-
1. The PIL of the association got the new date of 21 sept,11.
2. In the case of management the court has suggested EOW to resolve the case by sitting together(For the provision of the payment of the panelists ).
3. It's an positive sign because only if the panelists get back there money the company will be stronger than before.


It is also predicted that the official website of speakasia will be back to its normal function in the days to come as meeting with various govt. officials are being arranged.

Court proceedings of 7/09/2011

Firstly, EOW didn’t show up in the court yesterday,there is a reason behind that and its between the Speakasia and EOW.But EOW lawyers confirmed that they didn’t found anything against Speakasia.As such EOW will hold talks with officials of Spkasia regarding a constructive structural plan to pay the panelists and will have a thorough discussion on Speakasia as directed by the court.Further points will be updated letter.
Secondly,MCA and RoC are asked time and they were given a date(21/09/2011).As the PIL is in pre admission stage,MCA and RoC is not in a position to say anything about Spkasia(nor FOR neither AGAINST) so they were given a date.
N.B : EOW has no any problem with Speakasia in legal terms and no economic offences were found.
N.B : This meeting is not for registration process and payment approval.Its the duty of MCA and RBI for all that and not EOW.
Thirdly, Positively by tomorrow a meeting is scheduled(fingers crossed) and after that the site will be active by Saturday or latest by Monday and after that Exit option may start(hopefully).


Thanks and Regards

Here come the SpeakAsia clones "Voice of People" Review

1.8 million displaced members is nothing to sneeze at and with Speak Asia’s recent legal troubles with the Indian regulators, it’s no secret that there’s a lot of people in India looking for a new business opportunity.
Coming from Speak Asia, they’re familiar with a recruitment based compensation plan, filling out pointless surveys and an urgent need to get money rolling in again.
Enter companies like ‘Voice of the People’.
Whilst it’d definitely be unfair to claim that Speak Asia pioneered the ‘get paid for filling out surveys’ business model, the timing of Voice of People and distinct similarities between the two companies all point to trying to recapture the success Speak Asia had.


The company
A company operating out Singapore (sound familiar?) Voice of People operate on the principle that as a ‘customer’, your feedback is valuable to ‘big organisations‘ and that through Voice of People, said organisations are willing to compensate you for your time.
You fill out surveys for Voice of People, they send them to the company’s commissioning the surveys through them and the companies pay Voice of People who then pay you.
Unlike Speak Asia though, Voice of People is registered to operate as ‘VOICE OF PEOPLE MEDIA AND ADVERTISING PRIVATE LIMITED and was approved on the 27th June 2011 (Reg: U74120UR2011PTC033559 in the state of Uttarakhand).
Despite listing no owner or staff information, Voice of People does list an Indian office address at ’3rd Floor, Room 304 , Time Tower, MG Road, Gurgaon, India’.
Voice of People is also registered in Singapore as ‘VOICE OF PEOPLE (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.’ (reg: 201108659G). The Singapore company lists a partial address of ‘KAMPONG BAHRU ROAD’.
Without the company revealing who is running things however, neither of these two registrations unfortunately is enough to ascertain who owns Voice of People.


The Product
Voice of People doesn’t have a product to sell, but all members are required to purchase a subscription to an online publication, ‘Voice of People Magazine’.
Voice of People claim that this magazine gives an insight of innovations around the world in the fields of media, advertising, merchandising.


The Voice of People Compensation Plan
The Voice of People compensation plan reads pretty much identical to the Speak Asia compensation plan. So much so, that it’s actually kind eerie.
The Voice of People compensation plan revolves around what are called ‘Reward Points’. Panelists can earn reward points by filling out surveys or recruiting other panelists to the opportunity.
Differentiating itself from Speak Asia however, it appears that Voice of People reward points cannot be redeemed for cash. 
Rather,

• Each reward point is equal to some product value.
• Each reward point is equal to $1/-. Once you collect $80 or more Reward Points in your account, you can redeem them against:
• Gift vouchers of leading retail stores, like Apparels, Books and stationary, Footwear, Kids Zones, Toys and baby products, Pharmacy, Coffee Shops, Restaurants and Grocery stores.
• Discount Coupons
• Loyalty Cards

Voice of People panelists are also able to earn a 10% reward point commission on those they refer and are able to have subpanels (extra accounts in which you fill in the same surveys multiple times).


Joining Voice of People
Those wishing to join Voice of People have two options available to them, a single panelist option at $20 or three panels (one primary panel and two sub panels) for $55.
Note that the subscription joining fees are much lower than Speak Asia ($220 and $240) due to the fact that financial commissions are not rewarded for recruiting new members.


Conclusion
What made Speak Asia such a success was their financial rewards for recruiting new members. This solely contributed to the massive growth of the memberbase (1.8 million panelists) in just under a year.
Without this incentive, a large chunk (read: all of them) of the Speak Asia memberbase had no way to earn a decent enough income to live on, which when joining MLMs like Speak Asia and Voice of People, is the ultimate end goal.
Ultimately that means that despite being virtually similar in setup, Voice of People probably isn’t going to achieve the size and growth that Speak Asia did.
Obviously whoever is running Voice of People has taken an interest in Speak Asia’s current legal problems and is attempting to run their own panelist company sans recruitment commissions.
Voice of People operating out of Singapore only adds to this speculation and is equally in itself suspicious (what is it with MLM companies refusing to just operate out of India itself?).
With a rewards based compensation plan as opposed to a direct monetary commission model, provided Voice of People can continue to provide its panelists with surveys I imagine they will steer clear of any regulatory trouble.
That said, the overall success of the company is still in question as no doubt Speak Asia has left a lot of people weary of panelist based MLM programs. And without a direct monetary compensation model, many of them will no doubt be left scratching their heads wondering if Voice of People is worth even joining.


behindmlm

speakasia blog updates

Dear SpeakAsians,


At the outset, we would like to thank you for the support you have been giving us in these critical times. We are at the moment engaging in various activities and actions that will ensure that we return to normalcy as soon as possible. Given below are the updates on some of the actions that we are undertaking:
·         We have already approached various authorities concerned to explain the business model and their approval on it. We hope to have some concrete action on this account in the very near future.
·         When we had announced the exit option from Speak Asia and mails were sent to this effect, a lot of Speak Asians faced challenges in accessing them as the mails kept bouncing back. Over the next week we will be implementing the methodology for exercising the exit options. This is to ensure that as soon as we get the reprieve we are looking for, we would be ready to disburse the amounts to your bank accounts immediately without any procedural delays.
We will keep you updated with all the latest developments as they unfold.


Warm regards
Corporate Marketing Team - SpeakAsia Online Pte Ltd. 

Ashok Bahirwani-Secretary AISPA- 3rd sept,11

Good Evening Speakasians,


Like everybody I was also thrilled and welcomed the pleasant news and appreciated the attempt of the company to open up a channel of communication with the panelists.
But my critical mind raises a few doubts on the authenticity of this Blog being the official medium of the company. Here is why:
1. The first post on the Blog is dated 12th August, 2011 suffers from a serious error. The author states in the blog that the Mumbai High Court had heard the bail application of Tarak Sahib and was pleased to deny extension of police custody. We all know that the Bail Application was heard by the Hon. Magistrate Court at Esplanade Court (Quila Court). I am sure if this was indeed an official Blog by the company for communicating with the panelists such a major mistake would not have occurred.
2. If indeed this is a company initiative then why after the first post on the 12th August, 2011 did the company remain silent for all these days. They should have attempted to popularize the Blog from 12th itself, the panelists have all been waiting for some sort of official communication and everybody would have been surely happy to welcome such an initiative of the company.
3. This also now raises doubts on the authenticity of the letter of Mrs. Harendar Kaur. Was the letter planted by the same authors of the Blog? We have all read various communications of Mrs. Kaur and we know her to be an articulate writer the current letter has grammatical mistakes and spelling errors.
4. I know many panelists have got some sort of confirmation from the SAOL officials but then maybe they themselves have been misguided.


I want to be proved wrong this time and I hope all that is written above is wrong and this entire exercise is indeed of the company.
Like they say “It is better to be safe than sorry” 
During my interaction with various panelists from across the country I have come across major mistakes people have committed in their quest to have signups which is now leading to trouble, I wish to share these errors with you so that in future these mistakes are not committed you will realize that these mistakes have been committed by people who had implicit faith in the company and these steps were taken as a short cut to reach huge numbers.
• I know of people who have given personal post dated cheques to their direct sponsored downline equaling to the amount that the joining in panelist paid for the subscriptions. Why will someone do something as stupid as this? How are you personally responsible for the decision taken by the panelist after having fully satisfied themselves after hearing the SAOL business module? 
• Some people have signed affidavits giving personal assurances to the panelists on the safety of their Monies. This is also going one step too far.
Having implicit trust and faith in the company is one thing, going absolutely over board is another.
These are the kind of panelists who have used the term “Investment” which has become our nemesis. This word is nothing short of committing blasphemy against the company and its revolutionary business module.
One other important complaint I hear across the board is that up lines do not answer the phones of the downline. Leaders have all gone unreachable. Many leaders have changed their numbers and are not approachable. This is what has angered the downline especially the panelists who joined after March-April and have not received any payouts and they feel cheated.
Just to give a personal example, not that I want to brag about my efforts, since I have become the secretary of the AISPA and somehow my phone number has found its way into the public domain I have been flooded with hundreds of phone calls from across the country and I have answered each and every phone call, even called back the missed calls this is the kind of proactive interaction the downline expects from their sponsors and the leaders whom they have looked up at when they joined this revolution called Speakasia.
We need to understand that we are associates of an international company which has always professed absolutely clean, honest and professional conduct. We need to match this corporate philosophy of SAOL and prove without doubt what it actually means when we say “Proud to be a Speakasian”
I urge all panelists’ brethren to draw inspiration from our company top honchos.
Learn from the vision and courage of our Chairperson and Global CEO Mrs. Harendar Kaurji; imbibe the coolness and articulation of our CEO Mr. Manoj Kumarji, wear the Tiger spirit and never say die attitude of our inspirational and beloved CEO Mr. Tarak Bajpai, take a lesson from Mr. Narayanan’s aggressiveness and his eye for detail, if we are able to even include some degree of all these qualities in our selves we will be a changed person and then I am sure we will be true leaders and a catalyst of change in our own and in the lives of people whom we touch.
“People are made of flesh and blood and a miracle fibre called courage”. 


~ Mignon McLaughlin
Proud to be a speakasian
Jai Speakasia
Ashok Bahirwani
Secretary
AISPA

Official Blog of SpeakAsia

As you are aware that the admin control of website of speakasia is with EOW,mumbai,no communication between the company and the panelists has been done form a few weeks.To communicate with the panelists speakasia has made there own blog,in which all the happenings of speakasia will be updated.This blog is directly controlled by Harender Kaur. 

Click here to visit the blog

headlines today

Clarification about the Petiton

Today media report said that supreme court has dismissed the Petition,but the truth is that AISPA counsels has withdrawn the petition on there own.
The petition was heard by Mr. justice Markandey katju and Mrs. justice Gyan Sudha Misra.The judges were of the opinion that the petition was before time and while this matter is being investigated ,it would not be proper for the court to club the matters together.The court was of the opinion that the matter can be clubbed together at the trial stage i.e after the charge sheet have been filed.

Message From Haren

SpeakAsia investigation report to be filed by 7th sept.

As of now its EOW (Economic Offense Wing) , MCA ( Ministry of Corporate Affairs) and SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office) are investigating SpeakAsia.
Now, its to be noted that these bodies are not only investigating SpeakAsia but other MLM  companies as well which have been there in India before SpeakAsia came into existence and after it too.
This definitely brings in good news in the wake of the public interest for each and every individual working with any MLM or planning to do so.
However, what we are bothered with as of now is that the investigation of SpeakAsia to be done soon - be it this side or that side - But we no more want to be hanging in mid air.
 According to the latest news from one of the media sources, court has directed the investigation authorities to file a reply by 7th September.
7th September isn't far now, lets hope we see some clear sky.

Ashok Bahirwani’s Updates 31/08/2011

Good Evening Speakasians,
First of all, on behalf of the entire committee: Eid Mubarak.
As all the courts were closed today there is actually not much to update you on any new activity.
I take this opportunity to update the speakasian family of the current situation and offer an overview and look at the roadmap ahead.
In my interaction with so many panelists over phone, thru E mails and also on various networking sites related to Speakasia, I have sensed that majority of the panelists have unflinching trust in the company but they are getting a little impatient now as they have not heard any “thok” good news. To make matters worse they cannot see their E wallets and the Survey wallets and cannot see their RPs. Of course the under lying concern about the long term fate of the company and their pay outs are naturally evident.
It pains me no end to see the extent of Human Right Violation of the panelists basic right to earn livelihood and all this not because the company has run away but alas because of the insensitivity of the system combined with negative and biased malicious campaign by the media.
The entire contradiction hits me hard when I hear, read and understand that across the board, all authorities talk of safeguarding the monies of the small and marginal “Investor” but in fact they are not taking the simple logical step that they should take immediately, which is to allow the company, which is shouting itself hoarse, and approaching the RBI repeatedly, to allow the company SAOL to make the payments.
“Sujag, soye hue insaan ko koi jagaa nahi sakta”.
Senior counsel Mr. Ram Jhetmalani has gone on record to say that the media is guilty of the highest degree of contempt of court because due to their unsubstantiated negative reporting they are in fact biasing the judiciary and the powers that be.
The media is guilty of doing everything else other then actually reporting.
Clean Journalism as I know hears both the sides, does their research and puts across their findings/report in an unbiased manner before their reader/viewer for them to judge.
But in today’s time the exact opposite is unfortunately being done. What has sadly become the norm of journalism today is that the media pick up one side of the story and report it without doing any sort of research without taking into consideration the other side’s view and assume the office of the judge and report the matter along with the judgment.
They hang the accused from the first tree.
They are the investigator, the prosecutor and the judge all rolled into one and journalism is nowhere in sight.
The latest example of unsubstantiated reporting was seen in the matter of reporting the Hon. Hyderabad High court, the hon. Justice transferred the matter to the state CID for thorough investigation and the media reported that the Hon. High court had ordered the CID to make any arrest as they feel good.
The company’s application before the Hon. Supreme Court prays that all matters relating to this one single case of SAOL be transferred and investigated by any agency the court feels is competent to investigate. That the Investigation be completed in a set timeframe and pending the outcome of this investigation all further arrests be stayed. If the company manages to get relief from the Hon. Supreme Court then all the matters including the Andhra Pradesh matter will be transferred to one investigating agency that the court feels fit for this investigation.
On the matter of the SAOL site, I wish to bring to your attention that the site is facing technical problem but it cannot be rectified only because the admin rights are with EOW. As no senior official is available to go to the EOW to take custody of the web site even if the investigation is completed.
Last but not the least I wish to remind all the panelists that we are faced with a serious problem and although we will taste the ultimate victory “satyamev jayate” these kinds of complicated issues take some time to get normal. Although I am sure that we all will start hearing GOOD NEWS starting from early next week, normalization of operations will take some time and payouts will start only after the operations normalize.
“Humara babbar sher pinjre se bhair nikalte hi, sabhi morche khol dega, aur unki furthi se jald se jald, poore current situation ko humare haq mein mod dega”.
Let us all continue to trust the company, let us remain patient. We will surely win.
Jeet humari nischit hai.
Jai Speakasia
Ashok Bahirwani
Secretary
AISPA

Think about Mr. Tarak Bajpai

“A classical example of picking up a wrong man in a wrong case” said Speakasia Counsel Adv Ponda regarding Mr Rahul Shah.
Mr. Tarak Bajpai was granted bail but was again taken into custody.Mr.Tarak Bajpai,a person with a great heart is still smiling even though he is made to sleep on the floors of Thane Jail fighting for the panelists, fighting for us THE SPEAKASIANS.
So, let’s support him and companies to better life and win the court.

Bizbasket updates - 30 august

At this critical point of time when the fierce battle is going on in legal arena when not many concrete updates are coming we would like to provide you with following news which should keep you away from any rumor:
1. As lot of rumor is going on that the COO Mr. Tarak Bajpayee has been released on bail by Supreme court on 29/08/2011 is not true. We have authentic information from the official SAOL sources that nothing of that sort has happened. Though he is expected to get the anticipatory bail very soon which will stop all the arrest apprehensions from across India by various state police in similar cases.
2. The control of the website www.speakasiaonline.com is still not with the SAOL management so only panelists are facing problems which are pure technical in nature. There is nothing to panic because of website not being functioning properly because as soon as we get some relief on the battle field of the law correcting a website is peanut.
3. There are hearing of cases going on in various courts of laws in India related to SAOL and till now nothing has been proved against of Speak Asia in any court of law. Any learned person in India knows very well that any court would not deliver its judgement merely based upon negative campaigning by media against any entity. It will go through each and every fine detail of the facts before delivering the final judgement. Looking at the current scenario of SAOL case victory in court is sure but no one in this world can give a date.
4. Speak Asia Panelists Association (AISPA) has filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) before the Honorable High Court at Mumbai which is now posted for 7th September, 2011, when the Government of Maharashtra is to file its reply. Apart from this some of the panelists have independently moved the Honorable Supreme court and are in the process of filing a PIL before the Supreme Court asking for ad interim relief and requested that the money which is seized by the authorities in India be brought under the custody of the Supreme court and under its supervision be distributed among the panelists.
5. As per our official sources we can expect some critical and probably good news on the legal front in this week. So stay tuned with only reliable media and do not pay attention to rumors and for god shake you don't join the people who spread rumors for cheap publicity of themselves and play with the emotions of millions of innocent investors across our country.


Regards
Team BizBasket

FAQ From Ashok Bahirwani

We are waiting for our AISPA site disparately…??
I will update you of the exact date of the launch of www.aispa.co.in on 1st September, 2011.
Is  Mr. rahul sah released ? what ‘s his reaction or informations?
Yes, Rahulji has been released and i am sure he must be a relieved man.
Why SAOL ‘s websites log in is not working?
There is a technical problem with the speakasia website and as the adminstrative rights are with the EOW, SAOL is not able to rectify this error.
Where is Mr . Narayanan ? what is his stand ?
We all know Mr. Narayanan is an external consultant and not an employee of SAOL. As the operations of SAOL are presently stalled he must be busy looking after his consultancy business with his other clients.
What happened with PROVOUGE gift voucher ? is it connected with Mr . tarak sir’s arresting( this question is becouse of i realize that there will be separate department working for this )
We all know that the entire operations have come to a standstill and all the energies of the company must be now focused on getting the immediate release of Tarak Sahib. Once he is out he will steer the ship out of troubled waters.
Why YUG brand mobile is now sold by TVC ?
Let me understand the TVC issue and i will revert back on this shortly.I hope you will be satisfied with the answers.I once again urge all the panelists to be patient.Jai Speakasia,

Updates 26.08.11-Ashok Bahirwani

Good Evening Speakasians,
After many days, a day, full of GOOD NEWS. After many days we had multiple successes and I take immense pride in reporting as follows.
GOOD NEWS #1: Mr. Rahul Shah the poor victim of the high handedness of the Authorities and an example of subversion of facts was today released on bail, by the Quila Court. To quote the companies Counsel Adv. Ponda this was “A classical example of picking up a wrong man in a wrong case”.
The faith of 20 lakh panelists has once again been imposed in the legal system when the Hon. Magistrate Esplanade Court released, Mr. Rahul Shah, employee of M/s Tulsiyant Info, a company no way connected to SAOL, on bail. Details of the order are awaited; I will post the details ASAP.
GOOD NEWS #2: Mr. Tarak Bajpai our inspirational leader and beloved COO along with the other three officials, none of whom is a SAOL official, were granted unconditional Bail, by the Magistrate in the Thane Court on a surety of Rs. 25000/- only per head. This order was pronounced in court only around 6.00 pm and as such our COO and the three others will have to spend yet another uneasy night on the floors of Thane Jail.
My heart bleeds to see this man who has led the speakasian family to great heights, who has been the architect of change in the standard of living of lakhs of families, sleeping on the floors of Thane Jail, fighting for the panelists, and still smiling.
TRIVIA:
1. The Domain name of your Association website has been confirmed and hopefully the site should be operational within the next 7 to 10 days.
The domain name is www.aispa.co.in
2. The initial proposal of the PR agency has been received and has been circulated amongst the committee members for their opinion and suggestions. We should be able to finalise this soon and the panelists should see the PR exercise taking shape soon. I will share with you the details as they keep getting firmed up.
3. The Association has mooted the idea of setting up a call centre for better verbal communication with the large panelist family.


RUMOURS & UNSUBSTANTIATED REPORTS:
Without going into the details of the forum or the website where the stories were germinated, I attempt to clarify on “HOT” news items of the day.
SAOL has started paying their employees: A false statement to the core, without starting payment of the panelist the company will not pay the employees. All the employees are willing to stand by the company along with their leader Shri. Tarak Bajpai. The company is duty bound to first pay the Panelists followed by the vendors and finally the employees.
The State Government is going to go in appeal against the order of Mr. Tarak Bajpai and others bail order: This is a normal action in the legal process. An aggrieved party will always appeal to the next available medium available to them. So this does not come as a surprise to me as this is the established route available to the authorities.
Zee news report on Mr. Moilly referring the matter of SAOL to SFIO: 
I have not seen this news item and as such cannot substantiate the same.
Allow me to comment on this tomorrow, I would like to study this in detail.


As is evident from the above we are moving in the right direction. Things are happening in our favour. On such a large scale, with Govt. Authorities involved we cannot decide the speed, but we can smell victory.
Have faith in SAOL, have patience.
Proud to be a speakasian
Jai speakasia
Ashok Bahirwani
Secretary
AISPA

Speak Asia COO fears re-arrest by police from other states, may petition SC

Speak Asia COO Tarak Bajpai has been granted bail, but he is afraid that police from other places may arrest him. According to sources, the company may approach the Supreme Court to seek anticipatory bail
Speak Asia, the troubled multi-level marketing (MLM) company, could remain in the water for many more days, if not some months or years. The company's chief operating officer (COO) Tarak Bajpai, who is in custody, is apparently not willing to come out of jail fearing that police from other states may be looking to arrest him.
According to information posted on the Internet by some agents of Speak Asia, Mr Bajpai was granted bail by the Thane District Court. However, police from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa and Pune were said to be waiting outside the court to arrest Mr Bajpai. So, in order to avoid being arrested all over again, the company's counsel advised that Mr Bajpai petition the Supreme Court for anticipatory bail.
One such post reads: "Court ne bail manjoor kar li, lekin layer (lawyer) ne mana kar diya kyoki aur jagah se complain bhi hua hai. Agar Tarak sir baahar aate toh fir se giraftar ho jate. Is isthiti (is paristhithi) mein layer (lawyer) ne nirnay liya ki ab Supprim Court se Agrim jamant lenge. Jis se ki jo aur jagah company ke khilaf FIR hua hai, koi pooch tach ke liye inko giraftar na kare. MONDAY ko SC se bail mil jayega, tab Tarak sir bahar aa jayenge, fir SOAL ka painding work shuru ho jayega." However, this information could not be confirmed from the company's legal team.
In the meanwhile, according to some panellists, the company has also requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to postpone its meeting, citing non-availability of its officials. Speak Asia had asked for an appointment with the RBI and accordingly the central bank had fixed a meeting for 24th August, in the second half of the day. However, on the morning of 24th August, Speak Asia sent an email to the RBI saying that since its officials were in jail, the meeting be postponed to another date. Speak Asia had to get an order from the Bombay High Court to fix an appointment with the RBI.
This statement from Speak Asia is yet another example of the lies the company has been spreading. Harendar Kaur, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of Speak Asia (see the image below), had sent a letter seeking an appointment to the RBI. Manoj Kumar, the company's CEO for India, is alleged to be in hiding in Dubai, while there is no information about other officials, like Narayanan Rajagopalan, president for emerging markets, and Vivek Gautam, chief marketing officer (who was reported to have been sacked for making big claims about big clients).
Some other officials of the company were also present at the press conference called by Speak Asia on 16th May in Mumbai, but there is little information about their whereabouts. Till date, the Mumbai police and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) have arrested only one official, that is Tarak Bajpai. The question is why is Speak Asia making it out to be as if many of its officials are in jail?

Moneylife

Updates AISPA -25th august.

Hello friends, Fellow Speakasians,
Today was a rather slow day compared to to the hectic activity over the last 10 days.
The Magistrate at the Thane Court was on leave today and as such the bail order of Mr. Tarak Sahab has now been kept for Orders Tomorrow i.e 26th August, 2011. We definitely hope for the best.
The Association's Website Domain name has been registered, we are awaiting confirmation, i will share with all of you the domain address tomorrow.
We have had a lengthy discussion with a PR agency to put out a PR exercise in the public domain to counter the negative and malicious campiagn being propagated by the media. We all can see the orchestrated effort of the unknown powerfull corrupt enemy. For example todays report in the TOI refused to mention that a PIL has been admitted on behalf of 20 lakh speakasia panelists and is being heard alongside the earlier criminal PIL. A reporter would have to be BLIND and DEAF not to notice this.
I have been pained by how various people in their enthusiasm report rumours as if they were the absolute truth. Friends the press is already doing that work of reporting unsubstantiated news. The least we as speakasians can do is not report rumours as authenticated news.
Like i said it was a rather slow day and hence a short update.
Once again i wish to assure all speakasians that we are now on the verge of seeing things turning around.
Have patience. continue your trust in SAOL

Jai Speakasian
Ashok Bahirwani
Secretary
AISPA 

Updates from the 'Secretary of AISPA'

Hello Friends, fellow-Speakasians,
Today was a very busy day and i attempt to report as follows:
It started with my Meeting with the Associations Council Mr. Ahmad Abdiji we had a long conference on various issues. We discussed in detail the present situation and the route ahead. We discussed that the PIL filed by the Association on Saturday i.e. 20th August, 2011 will now be mentioned before the Chief Justice of the Mumbai High court for admission tomorrow morning at 11:00 am.
We hope that the Associations PIL as filed on 20th August 2011 be heard by and along with the earlier criminal PIL. We, have agreed, and decided that a RTI application, be filed before the relevant RBI authorities, with the following details.


Writ petition (lodg.) No. 1365 0f 2011
Speakasiaonline pte. Ltd. and others. ..Petitioners
Versus
Reserve Bank of India .Respondents
Coram: Dr. D. Y. Chandrachud & Anoop V. Mohta, JJ.
Date: 14th July, 2011.
The honorable lordships in their order dated 14th July, 2011, had opined in their order on page 5 para 6 line 2 as follows. Relevant Extract:
“However in the interest of fairness, an opportunity should be granted to the petitioners to submit a representation to the Reserve Bank. Sub section (2) of section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 does in fact contemplate the making of such representation.”
The lordships further in line 11 go on to add as follows:
“We accordingly dispose of this petition by permitting the petitioners to place representations on the record of the Chief General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India, who had issued the circular dated 23rd May, 2011. In the event that such a representation is made, we would expect the Reserve Bank of India to make a decision in accordance with law. The Reserve Bank of India may furnish an opportunity to the petitioners to explain the contents of the representation in a meeting which may be convened for that purpose”.
The question for the RTI may arise as follows:
Has the Chief General Manager, RBI been approached by the company Speakasiaonline pte. Ltd. if yes when?
If Yes, Has the chief General Manager, RBI given an opportunity to the said company to present their business module?
What was the reason?, on what grounds?, what was the causative action which forced the Chief General Manager to issue the circular dated 23rd May, 2011?
Has the meeting been convened as the lordships ordered?
Friends, this is the broad outline and grounds for the RTI application. My advice to all of you is that please arrange proper legal councils, spend money, and get good experienced advocates on board. For any document support send your request to speakasian.ashok@gmail.com with the subject “RTI help”. I am asking you to write to me on my Id only because the speakasia.association@gmail.com is being flooded with the support E mails.
Your Committee then met some members of an NGO’s supporting the human rights of people in Maharashtra and made a presentation to them on how lakhs of people who depended solely on the income generated from the SAOL module have been robbed of their legitimate right to earn. By this malicious campaign they have been robbed of the opportunity to their livelihood and respectful existence.
The Committee Members then met and decided on the following steps for the immediate future over the next couple of days:
Immediate focus is to seek our COO’s Release.
We need to see that the Associations PIL is admitted tomorrow.
The associations PIL has to be clubbed with the initial PIL and should be heard along with the original PIL.
To Launch the Associations own Website thereby providing an Authenticated Forum for the Panelists.
To register the association and open the Bank Accounts.
The resultant outcome of the hearing of the PIL hopefully on Wednesday i.e. 24th August, 2011 will decide our future course of action.
As an aside, I wish to mention here that the immediate pre operative expenses are being borne by the office bearers and the committee members on an individual basis. But going forward we may require monetary support from the speakasian family, and we are in the process under advice of legal counsel, deciding how to go about it.
It will not be out of place to mention here that the legal fees of our counsel Adv. Ahmad Abdiji has been paid by your Office bearer by individual cheques.


Tomorrows Agenda is as follows:-

• Early Morning meeting of the core committee for E support and website development.
• Attending the Thane Court where Tarak Sahibs Bail application will be heard.
• Meeting PR agency to discuss PR activity to fight negative campaign.
• Collate, and putting material together for Wednesday PIL hearing.

Source:- Bizbasket

Updates 23 august,11

Court has rejected the request of police to extend the custody of tarak bajpai and other officals,and they are sent to judicial custody for the next two days and bail application of the officials was accepted and they are soon to be released.The bail hearing is dated on 25th august.

Updates-22/08/11

At this point of time its a very good thing that we the 20 Lakh panelists of Speak Asia have formed an association named "Speak Asia Panelists Association" which is representing our case in judiciary, government and various concerned institutions. Please go through the following updates from the Secretary of our association:


When Will the Payouts Start?
This is a million dollar question and I am sure almost all the panelists including me are eagerly waiting for the payments to restart. I wish to draw your attention to the fact that the company has been approaching the RBI on various occasions but the pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the required permissions have not come through. Our Global CEO Ms. Haren Kaur has written to RBI once again on 19th August, 2011 and we again await some positive response.
I wish to draw your attention to The PIL filed by your Association before the Hon. High Court at Mumbai wherein one of the main prayers is that the RBI be instructed to withdraw the circular issued by them to all banks cautioning the banks against speakasia. It is also prayed that the company be allowed to pay out over 200000 Speak Asians whose requests are pending for payment.
In summation I wish to submit that come Wednesday 24th August, 2011 this question will be better answered once the Hon. High Court has heard the PIL.


When will the Surveys restart?
We are all aware that the servers of the company are being investigated by the EOW. This is the reason why the portal is not fully operational.
As soon as the EOW finishes the investigation they will hand over the portal back to SAOL and the surveys and the EXIT option will be activated.
The PIL of your Association pleads before the Hon. High Court to fix a time frame for the authorities to complete investigations of the company.
Once again this question will be clarified after the hearing of the PIL.


When will the PE be established?
This question will also be answered after the hearing of the PIL filed by your Association on Wednesday i.e. the 24th August, 2011.


Where is our CEO Mr. Manoj Kumar and our Global CEO Ms. Haren Kaur?
Friends both of them are safe and sound and monitoring the entire defence operation in all probabilities. I am sure they have not returned to India on the advice of their Legal counsel.
We should be hearing from them soon. Maybe they are waiting for things to get clarified in the
matter of Tarak Sahibs detention matter.


Why is our COO Mr. Tarak Bajpai being arrested again and again?
Mr. Tarak Bajpai was first arrested on 29th July, 2011 under the FIR resulting out of the order passed by the Hon. High Court in the criminal PIL filed sometime in July 2011. After serving the mandatory 14 days remand Mr. Bajpai was finally released on Bail Yesterday i.e. 20th August, 2011.
Once Mr. Tarak Bajpai was a free man he was once again arrested in yet another FIR filed at Mira
Road by the EOW Bhayander.
To counter this menace of multiple complaints in, if at all, one crime against SAOL the company management is in a huddle with their legal team.
On enquiries, SAOL have assured us that they will soon find a remedy to this, and put a stop to this menace which is becoming a huge irritant in the way of getting final release of our COO Mr. Tarak Bajpai.
Friends, fellow Speakasians we have to understand the gravity of the situation and assess the situation that we are currently in REALISTICALLY.
The matter is in the hands of various Govt. Agencies and they will work at their own speed, maybe purposely at a snail’s speed. This is why we introduced the PIL to speeden them up.
We have no choice but to be UNITED & PATIENT. This is the ONLY way we will WIN.
On a positive note I would like to inform you that Mrs. Renu Sharma wife of our CEO Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, was released from detention without being arrested, yesterday itself, because they could not find any reason or case against her,
which in itself is a huge testimony to the fact that the EOW has not got any substantial material against SAOL.