Al Bhatti
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This news is about a Pakistani businessman and hence i posted it here.
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August 24, 2013
A group of investors of MMA Forex gather in front of the office of MMA Bank GT to demand that the company return their hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of investments.
Investors in limbo after firm in Dubai stops profit payouts
More than 200 people claim MMA Forex Online Trading Services will not return their money
Scores of foreign exchange (forex) investors in the country are in financial limbo after the unexpected closure of a Dubai forex trading company where they invested millions of dirhams.
Around 30 investors of MMA Forex Online Trading Services trooped to the Mai Tower in Al Qusais on Saturday, demanding that the company return their money.
A sign that read under renovation was posted on the door of MMA Forex on the 11th floor. The buildings security told Gulf News that Dubai Polices Criminal Investigation Department (CID) shut down the office six months ago based on fraud allegations.
I invested $25,000 [Dh91,825] at MMA Forex. Half of it came from my savings, and for the other half I took out a loan, Zahid, 32, from Pakistan, told Gulf News. The sad thing is, I invited two of my friends to invest as well.
Zahid said he is barely surviving because of the loan payments.
Sixty per cent of my salary goes to the repayment of my loan. Whats left is enough for survival, he said.
He is among the more than 200 people who have been waiting to reclaim their money from the company in the past ten months.
An investor, who preferred not to be identified said he invested $12,000 from his childrens educational fund. I am mentally tortured every day as it seems I have [compromised] my childrens future.
We want our money [back], we are going hungry. We have too many problems. We have to pay our rent, everything else, said an Indian resident who invested $78,800.
MMA Forexs client portfolio includes professionals from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Some pooled resources together while one invested using his friends money.
Now hes [friend] giving me a problem back home. Hes threatening [to hurt] my family if I cant repay him, said S.A., a cleaner who invested Dh31,000 on behalf of his friend.
Forex trading is the business of making profits by speculating on the value of one currency compared to another.
Investors told Gulf News that MMA Forex offered clients an investor-managed trading account for a minimum investment of $5,000, promising up to 12 per cent in monthly profits. An expert-assisted account requires a minimum deposit of $3,000, that, in cases of losses, would not be more than 15 per cent of their investment.
For the investor-managed account, investors said they were assured of the safety of their investment through a clause in the contract that said: The client is not exposed to any threat of loss. If any loss occurs, MMA Forex will be responsible for it.
However, from October 2012 investors stopped earning profits. The MMA Forex management told them they could not pay them for the next two months. The two months extended to ten. When they tried to pull out their money, it was to no avail.
Investors also demanded answers from MMABank GT situated on the 15th floor of the same tower, where some investors claim they deposited their money.
MMABank GT is part of the MMA Group of Companies of which Malek Noureed Awan is the CEO. Awan, a Pakistani businessman in his 20s, is currently being detained at Al Qusais Police Station. He is under investigation for complaints filed against him by MMA Forex investors.
When Gulf News spoke to Awan, he said the investors were mistaken in their complaint. I have no relations with MMA Forex. They are just blackmailing me to take their money, Awan said in a pre-arranged teleconference. I was not in charge of MMA Forex. It is only a company related to my family.
Gulf News pointed out to Awan that his companys website mentioned that one of their milestones was the setup of MMA Forex Online Trading in 2006. Awan insisted that his companys name was MMA Financial Investments Online Trading of which MMA Bank GT was a member.
Two days after Gulf News accessed MMAs website, the same text that Gulf News pointed out to Awan was altered to bear the name of MMA Financial Investments Online Trading.
On further investigation, Gulf News noted that the main contents and company profiles on the websites of MMA Forex and Awans MMABank GT are identical. The number of forex trading brokers, their trade volumes, trading tools, among others mirrored each other.
The MMA Forex contracts obtained by Gulf News also had stamps from MMABank GT.
A quick search online pointed to a video interview of ARY News with Awan that was posted on YouTube two years ago. The video segment showed him talking about MMA Forex, saying it has 100,000 customers worldwide.
We have 72 branches all over the world. We have our own platform and we have broker houses here, he said in the interview.
Investors in limbo after firm in Dubai stops profit payouts | GulfNews.com
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August 24, 2013
MMA barred in Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland
Authorities issue alerts telling investors from these three countries to be wary
A visit to MMABank GT, the company which its CEO Malek Noureed Awan said is being dragged through the dirt unnecessarily, revealed it does not operate as a bank as its company name suggests.
Unlike normal banks that have tellers and security, MMABank GT looks like a typical office.
“We don’t operate as a commercial bank,” Mohammad Ali Sadiq, the HR manager and acting spokesperson of MMABank GT, told Gulf News.
He said his office operates like a forex trading company which was also mentioned on its website. But Sadiq said they had suspended forex trading since Awan was detained by the authorities six months ago.
According to its trade licence from the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED), MMABank GT’s activities are limited to “General Trading” which means the import and export of goods.
To be a registered forex trading company, the DED representative said a company should be registered with the UAE Central Bank and Dubai Police before DED can grant a commercial licence. MMABank GT could not be seen on the list of registered banks and institutions with the UAE Central Bank.
On its website MMABank GT said it is a fully licensed and regulated European investment firm.
But MMABank GT was mentioned on Sweden’s warning list of “Firms you should avoid doing business with”.
“An inclusion in the list normally means that the company operates without necessary licences in that country that has issued the warning,” Lars Malmstrom, Head of Consumer Affairs Division and Deputy Communications Director of the Finansinspektionen (FI), the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, told Gulf News in an email.
“We add companies to the list either after having trouble with that company in Sweden, or because we have received a warning from another supervising authority in the world and that the company does not have a licence to operate in Sweden,” Malmstrom added.
MMABank GT was also included in the Investor Alerts of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco) by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in August 2012. MMA Capital Markets Limited and MMA Forex & MMA FX made it onto Iosco’s list because of a warning alert issued by the Central Bank of Ireland.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/mma-barred-in-sweden-ireland-and-switzerland-1.1223521
------------------------------------
August 24, 2013
A group of investors of MMA Forex gather in front of the office of MMA Bank GT to demand that the company return their hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of investments.
Investors in limbo after firm in Dubai stops profit payouts
More than 200 people claim MMA Forex Online Trading Services will not return their money
Scores of foreign exchange (forex) investors in the country are in financial limbo after the unexpected closure of a Dubai forex trading company where they invested millions of dirhams.
Around 30 investors of MMA Forex Online Trading Services trooped to the Mai Tower in Al Qusais on Saturday, demanding that the company return their money.
A sign that read under renovation was posted on the door of MMA Forex on the 11th floor. The buildings security told Gulf News that Dubai Polices Criminal Investigation Department (CID) shut down the office six months ago based on fraud allegations.
I invested $25,000 [Dh91,825] at MMA Forex. Half of it came from my savings, and for the other half I took out a loan, Zahid, 32, from Pakistan, told Gulf News. The sad thing is, I invited two of my friends to invest as well.
Zahid said he is barely surviving because of the loan payments.
Sixty per cent of my salary goes to the repayment of my loan. Whats left is enough for survival, he said.
He is among the more than 200 people who have been waiting to reclaim their money from the company in the past ten months.
An investor, who preferred not to be identified said he invested $12,000 from his childrens educational fund. I am mentally tortured every day as it seems I have [compromised] my childrens future.
We want our money [back], we are going hungry. We have too many problems. We have to pay our rent, everything else, said an Indian resident who invested $78,800.
MMA Forexs client portfolio includes professionals from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Some pooled resources together while one invested using his friends money.
Now hes [friend] giving me a problem back home. Hes threatening [to hurt] my family if I cant repay him, said S.A., a cleaner who invested Dh31,000 on behalf of his friend.
Forex trading is the business of making profits by speculating on the value of one currency compared to another.
Investors told Gulf News that MMA Forex offered clients an investor-managed trading account for a minimum investment of $5,000, promising up to 12 per cent in monthly profits. An expert-assisted account requires a minimum deposit of $3,000, that, in cases of losses, would not be more than 15 per cent of their investment.
For the investor-managed account, investors said they were assured of the safety of their investment through a clause in the contract that said: The client is not exposed to any threat of loss. If any loss occurs, MMA Forex will be responsible for it.
However, from October 2012 investors stopped earning profits. The MMA Forex management told them they could not pay them for the next two months. The two months extended to ten. When they tried to pull out their money, it was to no avail.
Investors also demanded answers from MMABank GT situated on the 15th floor of the same tower, where some investors claim they deposited their money.
MMABank GT is part of the MMA Group of Companies of which Malek Noureed Awan is the CEO. Awan, a Pakistani businessman in his 20s, is currently being detained at Al Qusais Police Station. He is under investigation for complaints filed against him by MMA Forex investors.
When Gulf News spoke to Awan, he said the investors were mistaken in their complaint. I have no relations with MMA Forex. They are just blackmailing me to take their money, Awan said in a pre-arranged teleconference. I was not in charge of MMA Forex. It is only a company related to my family.
Gulf News pointed out to Awan that his companys website mentioned that one of their milestones was the setup of MMA Forex Online Trading in 2006. Awan insisted that his companys name was MMA Financial Investments Online Trading of which MMA Bank GT was a member.
Two days after Gulf News accessed MMAs website, the same text that Gulf News pointed out to Awan was altered to bear the name of MMA Financial Investments Online Trading.
On further investigation, Gulf News noted that the main contents and company profiles on the websites of MMA Forex and Awans MMABank GT are identical. The number of forex trading brokers, their trade volumes, trading tools, among others mirrored each other.
The MMA Forex contracts obtained by Gulf News also had stamps from MMABank GT.
A quick search online pointed to a video interview of ARY News with Awan that was posted on YouTube two years ago. The video segment showed him talking about MMA Forex, saying it has 100,000 customers worldwide.
We have 72 branches all over the world. We have our own platform and we have broker houses here, he said in the interview.
Investors in limbo after firm in Dubai stops profit payouts | GulfNews.com
------------------------------
August 24, 2013
MMA barred in Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland
Authorities issue alerts telling investors from these three countries to be wary
A visit to MMABank GT, the company which its CEO Malek Noureed Awan said is being dragged through the dirt unnecessarily, revealed it does not operate as a bank as its company name suggests.
Unlike normal banks that have tellers and security, MMABank GT looks like a typical office.
“We don’t operate as a commercial bank,” Mohammad Ali Sadiq, the HR manager and acting spokesperson of MMABank GT, told Gulf News.
He said his office operates like a forex trading company which was also mentioned on its website. But Sadiq said they had suspended forex trading since Awan was detained by the authorities six months ago.
According to its trade licence from the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED), MMABank GT’s activities are limited to “General Trading” which means the import and export of goods.
To be a registered forex trading company, the DED representative said a company should be registered with the UAE Central Bank and Dubai Police before DED can grant a commercial licence. MMABank GT could not be seen on the list of registered banks and institutions with the UAE Central Bank.
On its website MMABank GT said it is a fully licensed and regulated European investment firm.
But MMABank GT was mentioned on Sweden’s warning list of “Firms you should avoid doing business with”.
“An inclusion in the list normally means that the company operates without necessary licences in that country that has issued the warning,” Lars Malmstrom, Head of Consumer Affairs Division and Deputy Communications Director of the Finansinspektionen (FI), the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, told Gulf News in an email.
“We add companies to the list either after having trouble with that company in Sweden, or because we have received a warning from another supervising authority in the world and that the company does not have a licence to operate in Sweden,” Malmstrom added.
MMABank GT was also included in the Investor Alerts of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco) by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in August 2012. MMA Capital Markets Limited and MMA Forex & MMA FX made it onto Iosco’s list because of a warning alert issued by the Central Bank of Ireland.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/mma-barred-in-sweden-ireland-and-switzerland-1.1223521
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