Main accused in Speak Asia scam arrested

New Delhi: Ram Sumiran Pal, part of the top management of multi-level marketing company Speak Asia has been arrested. Speak Asia has allegedly duped nearly 24 lakh investors of over Rs 2,200 crore and FIRs against the company management have been registered all over India.

Speak Asia was an online survey marketing company floated in 2010 which sold web subscription for Rs 11,000 each and in return the investor had to fill survey forms for certain multinational firms promised annual payment of Rs 52,000. After paying a few initial investors, the Speak Asia wrapped up the operation in India.

Till now 8 FIRs have been registered all over India including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the Enforcement Directorate. The involvement of others is also being verified.

After 28 months of investigation, the Mumbai Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has frozen more than 210 bank accounts containing over Rs 142 crore and another 150 accounts are under scrutiny.

The Mumbai EOW has found trail of over Rs 750 crore being laundered across various countries like Singapore, Dubai, Italy, UK, Brazil etc. The ED has found a trail of about Rs 900 crore to other countries.

Ram Sumiran Pal is among the top three wanted in Speak Asia fraud. Other two main accused are Ram Niwas Pal, his elder brother and Manoj Sharma.

Teams have been sent to Shahjahanpur in UP and Karnataka for probable hide outs of Ram Niwas Pal. Manoj is suspected to be in Singapore. The court cases and writs related to Speak Asia fraud have been filed in the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court. The Mumbai Police has termed the arrest as a prized catch.

Ram Sumiran Pal went to Malaysia twice while on the run. As he feared arrest at the airport, he took a land route to Kathmandu in Nepal. He took a flight from Kathmandu to Malaysia on both the occasions. He followed the same route to return home.

Ram Sumiran Pal was arrested when he was visiting Delhi to dispose off one of his properties here. Presently Ram Sumiran Pal was based in Dehradun and had invested in real estate business.