Best news yet for 6,000 investors in gold scheme

IPOH: The end of a long, agonising wait is near for more than 6,000 people who invested in a gold investment scheme between 2006 and 2009.

Bestino Golden House Sdn Bhd, the Ipoh-based company which ran the scheme, said it would return every sen put in by investors.

Its managing director Chong Yuk Ming said the company had liquidated all its assets in India and China and raised US$146mil (RM438mil).

“The funds are now in HSBC Hong Kong,” he said yesterday while showing the proof of fund letter from the bank.

“We plan to pay back all investors by April 30,” he said, adding that the company would return RM411.19mil to 6,764 investors.

He said the decision to return the money proved that the company was not a fly-by-night operation.

“Most of our investors have invested between RM10,000 and RM50,000 and are from the middle and lower income group,” he said.

It was reported that Chong and three other company directors were charged at the Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on more than 300 counts of money laundering and receiving deposits without a valid licence.