Investors in scheme want their RM76mil back

Malaysians and other Asians who invested in a Canadian land scheme through a property company are in limbo after it went into liquidation.

According to Chin Yoke Ling, who invested RM75,000, people from all over Asia had invested to buy 12 plots of land in Alberta from Edge-worth Properties Inc from 2007 to 2011.

“According to the sale and purchase agreement, the company would buy back the land from us with a return of 60%, 80% or 100% within two to five years,’’ Chin told a press conference at the Selangor MCA Public Service and Complaints Department yesterday.

Chin, who had lodged a police report at the Jalan Travers police station on Monday, alleged that the company had failed to transfer the titles to the purchasers’ names as agreed upon in the sale and purchase agreement.

She claimed in the police report that Edgeworth had taken out mortgages on the land without informing the investors who had already paid for the land.

“The land is now encumbered by mortgages which has resulted in Edgeworth not being able to repay our investment capital,’’ said Chin who was among about 60 people who brought their grouses to the department.

Malaysian investors are said to have paid the Canadian company, through its local chapter Edgeworth Properties (M) Sdn Bhd, investments totalling RM76.5mil.

Edgeworth Properties Inc’s headquarters was in Ontario, Canada, while its Malaysian branch’s office was in Menara UOA Bangsar up to its closure last December.

The Malaysian branch’s former country manager Lee Kim Haw said the Canadian High Court had ordered all the company’s branches in Canada and Asia to be closed.

He said the court had also appointed a restructuring lawyer, an auditing firm and a developer to look into the matter to maximise recovery and save cost.

Lee, who resigned from the company in June last year, said the court had also ordered the interests of all the Asian investors to be protected.

Selangor MCA Public Service and Complaints Department chief Datuk Theng Book said that such an investment scheme was illegal in Malaysia.

However, he noted that Edgeworth Properties had engaged a reputable legal firm here to process the investment documents.

He urged the investors to complain to Bank Negara about the investment scheme and to the Bar Council about the Malaysian legal firm that had represented the company.

“The Malaysian directors of the company must also be answerable to the investors here,” said Theng.

He added that the department would bring the matter up with Selangor MCA chairman Datuk Donald Lim who is Deputy Finance Minister.

“We will ask Lim to take up the matter with Bank Negara,’’ he said. - By Wani Muthiah (The Star)