KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): The Kuala Lumpur High Court has ordered RBTR Asset Management Bhd and five others named in a 2009 civil suit to pay RM13.35 million in restitution for their roles in the European Deposit Investment (EDI) scheme to the victims.
In a statement today, Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said the order was made on March 30.
The regulator said that in 2009, 106 investors were fooled into participating in the EDI scheme.
It said the court determined that the RBTR, an SC-licensed fund manager, had breached its obligation under fund manager guidelines and failed to complete due diligence to safeguard its clients' investments, according to the SC.
The suit filed in 2009 named five other defendants besides RBTR, namely:
- Locke Guarantee Trust Ltd (LGT), New Zealand
- Locke Capital Investments Ltd (LCI), British Virgin Island
- Isaac Paul Ratnam
- Joseph Lee Chee Hock
- Nicholas Chan Weng Sung
The SC said the scheme promised investors an 8% annual rate of return that would be paid upon maturity as well as misled them into thinking that their investments were being deposited into reputable European banks with full capital and income protection.
It said investors had been led to believe that their investments were deposited into an “AAA” rated European bank with full capital and income protection.
The SC said LGT and LCI had advertised themselves as fund managers in Malaysia that were connected to RBTR. Chan and Lee were directors of LGT and LCI whereas Ratnam was an individual associated with the operations of the two companies.