Sunshine Empire under CAD probe

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 13 November 2007 1813 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) has launched investigations into multi-level marketing (MLM) firm, Sunshine Empire.

The probe by the white collar crime buster comes just over a month after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) placed the firm on an investor-alert list which zooms in on those who may be conducting activities regulated by the MAS without authority.

Sunshine was also put on a similar list by Malaysian authorities a few months ago.

MLM firms, which are legal in Singapore, typically invite people to pay cash for the right to market goods to other people. They also get cash for recruiting other MLM marketeers.

Sunshine has been in the news on concerns over its business practices.

It is supposed to be doing networking marketing but its mode of operation appears more like a financial investment scheme for which it is not licensed.

Sunshine is believed to have a few thousand members.

When Channel NewsAsia news team visited Sunshine's headquarters at Toa Payoh Hub, members were seen entering the premises but they refused to comment.

Channel NewsAsia news team were not allowed into the premises. But looking through the glass door, it seemed it was still very much business as usual.

Large crowds of people were seen gathered around small desks discussing about marketing possibilities.

Eventually, two members emerged from the building, and they agreed to speak to Channel NewsAsia.

"We have been following the company for almost one year and all the updates are there. So we understand the company fully so we are not worried about anything," said one of the members.

"So far, we haven't complained, because every month we get money back. So, we've been all right," said another.

"You've been a member for five months, how much have you put in?" asked Channel NewsAsia.

"About $12,000," the member said.

"How much have you gotten back?"

"Including this month, it's about $7,000," answered the member.

The Commercial Affairs Department advises those who have placed money with Sunshine Empire to wait for further updates by the CAD as more information will be released in due course.

In the meantime, Sunshine members may be requested to come forward to help with investigations, says CAD.

The man behind Sunshine is Mr James Phang, 48, the founder, director and international president of Empire Group Alliance, a group spanning several Asian countries.

Sunshine is part of the group, but Mr Phang does not own it.

Sunshine also operates in Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, and has 50,000 merchants. - CNA/ir

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Quake Test Goes “Horribly Wrong”, Leaves 500,000 Dead In Haiti

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers A grim report prepared by the Russian Northern Fleet for Prime Minister Putin is stating today that the catastrophic earthquake that has devastated the Island of Haiti was the ‘clear result’ of a United States Navy test of one of its ‘earthquake weapons’ planned to be used by the Americans upon the Persian Nation of Iran but had gone ‘horribly wrong’. The Northern Fleet has been monitoring US Naval movements and activities in the Caribbean since 2008 when the Americans announced their intention to re-establish their Forth Fleet that had been disbanded in 1950, and which was responded to by the Motherland when later that year a Russian flotilla led by nuclear powered cruiser Peter the Great began their first exercises in this region since the ending of the Cold War. Though virtually unknown to the American people, the use, and perfection, of earthquake weapon technology has a decade’s long history that began with the former Sov
Read more

I'm an accountant, I hate my job, but seriously, I wouldn’t know what else to do

I was born to be a lot of things, but being an accountant isn't one of them. In my heart of hearts I have always known this, but for some stupid subconscious reason, I have always ignored it. Why? Well...um...err...I didn’t know what else to do. How many people faced with the same predicament of deciding on a profession upon graduating used “not really knowing what to do” as their guiding compass? Blink. Ten years have passed and you’re left wondering, how did I get here? In this cubicle? Doing something I cannot stand (and I’m not even honestly good at), with people I quite frankly don’t really care about? For me that was accounting, a profession that conjures numerous clichés, such as boring, bean counting, personality not needed, number crunching etc etc. These have now evolved and have been replaced by repetition, reconciliations, long hours, fudging figures, high turnover, Enron and even more reconciliations. R-E-S-P-E-C-T But please don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respe
Read more

Have We Reached a Top?

By James Kostohryz It's never been my position that the flow of fundamental news would turn from positive to negative overnight and in a total fashion. The world simply doesn't work that way. When I terminated my core long position a couple of weeks ago for reasons explained in�Ten Reasons the Countertrend Rally May Be Over,�I outlined a series of factors I believe may manifest in the later half of 2009 and the first half of 2010. Indeed, most of these factors will be more back-end loaded, as negative factors tend to build on one another and gain momentum in time through the medium of psychology and social mood. It's my view that the flow of economically relevant events�-- and perceptions of these events --are in the early stages of a transition. In this case, a transition means the flow of relatively good news will tend to wane somewhat while there's an uptick in relatively bad news. This is what one would expect at a top. However, it's to be expected that during t
Read more