@VellPaari Second Expose on the scam by Dato Sri Gnanaraja, Dato Geethanjali, Yayasan Usaha Ventures Malaysia and Venus FX

Press Statement

Dato Sri S.Vell Paari

Dato' Sri Gnanaraja, Dato Geethanjali, Yayasan Usaha Ventures Malaysia and Venus FX plot thickens 

For days prior to the 26th November 2016 and after, I had been inundated by complaints from many Malaysian Indians that they have been cheated and defrauded of their hard earned monies and in some cases, of their life savings, by two (2) entities. The first is Venus FX (“Venus”) and its group of companies whose principal officers are Firdaus Bin Mohd Sham, Dato’ Mohd Shukri Bin Abdul Rahim and Shahidrawadey Bin Shahidan. The second entity comprises Dato’ Sri Gnanaraja a/l M. Gnanasundram (“Gnanaraja”), his wife Geethanjali Gausillia a/p Kathirvalu (“Geethanjali”) and their society, Yayasan Usaha Ventures Malaysia (“Yayasan”).

Gnanaraja and Geethanjali admit having committed the fraud with Venus and its principals. They repaid a portion of the monies paid into Yayasan’s account but refused to pay the balance. However, Gnanaraja and Geethanjali now claim that they are ready and willing to return the funds.

The return of the funds does not vindicate Geethanjali or Gnanaraja as they willfully defrauded Venus and its investors into believing that their society, the Yayasan, would be in a position to obtain an investment banking license, using the good names of the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor as part of their scam.

On the 23rd June 2016, at a meeting between Gnanaraja and several others, Gnanaraja made several fraudulent and deceitful representations as follows:-

(a) that Yayasan would receive its investment banking license (“the License”) under the Financial Services Act, 2013;

(b) that the License would be obtained under the Yayasan and for that purpose, a minimum of RM50.0 million would be needed to get the License;

(c)that before the proposed press conference, a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) between the Ministry of Finance, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Yayasan would be signed. The License obtained by the Yayasan would be made available for Venus to carry on its business. With the MOU, the press conference would run smoothly;

(d) that Gnanaraja had spoken to a very senior person in MOF referred to him by the PM’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor;

(e)that RM50.0 million should be maintained with the Yayasan but Venus FX would maintain its present system and modus operandi;

(g) that Yayasan maintain Venus’s binary system of up to RM50.0 million, and therefore proceeds from the investors and clients of Venus be paid into the Yayasan’s account;

(h)that Gnanaraja would appoint three (3) non-executive directors from Venus to the board of Yayasan. The three (3) persons were Priscilla, Sri Kumar and Vishnu who would be paid an allowance of RM30,000.00 a month provided their performance was satisfactory. Each of these directors would also have 1% equity interest in Yayasan and that of the remaining shares of Yayasan, 3% would be held for a person who is with MOF, 34% to be held by Shukri and 30% by Gnanaraja as a proxy for the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and/or his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor;

(i) that the representatives of Venus must procure investments of up to RM50.0 million from the public;

(j) that the representatives of Venus must hold Venus out as a subsidiary of Yayasan for purposes of procuring investments. The investors were to be told to invest in Yayasan with Venus managing the system;

(k)Gnanaraja held out that foundations such as Yayasan can only be held by the Government with other individuals;

(l)for these reasons, Gnanaraja informed Venus that Yayasan must be the beneficiary of investments up to RM50.0 million and the target was 14 days to get the funds in;

(m)to settle investors as and when they demanded the return of their funds or dividends, Gnanaraja proposed that the payment must be from Venus’s access funds and not from the RM50.0 million deposited in Yayasan’s account as it is required to obtain the License;

(n) Gnanaraja also told Venus’s representatives that once the License was obtained, he would apply for overdraft facilities that could be used by Venus to run its business.

These matters can be verified by several persons who were at the meeting and who are presently in the process of providing statements to the police. An audio recording has also been provided to the police.

At a subsequent meeting called by Gnanaraja at the Mandarin Oriental, sometime before 19.7.2016, Gnanaraja asked for the balance RM45 million to be arranged as the sum of RM2.6 billion from the Cayman Island account of the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and/or the First Lady, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was allegedly ready to be transferred to complete the deal.  

It has also come to my attention that when Yayasan was registered as a society on 14.8.2013, Gnanaraja was an undischarged bankrupt. He was adjudged bankrupt on 22.5.2012 by the Kuala Lumpur High Court and only discharged his bankruptcy on 11.9.2013.

Two (2) days after my Press Conference on 26.11.2016, I received a call from one, Dr Streram Sinnasamy, Consultant Anesthesiologist at the Nilai Medical Centre. Dr Streram informed me that Yayasan belongs to him and not to Gnanaraja or Geethanjali. He said that if Gnanaraja or Geethanjali claim that Yayasan is theirs, then the Yayasan has been wrongfully appropriated by them by unlawful and fraudulent means. Dr Streram has now appointed a solicitor, Dato’ Selva Mookiah, and various reports and inquiries have been made to the relevant authorities.

On my part, as the Treasurer General of the MIC, I have filed an official complaint with the ROS on this wrongful appropriation of the ownership of Yayasan, which is a registered society, and expect the ROS to investigate and report on this urgently given the serious nature of the complaint.  

Gnanaraja and Geethanjali will stop at nothing to cheat the rakyat. They have criminally misused the good name of our Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and the First Lady, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, PM’s Office, Bank Negara, MOF as well as captains of industry. I believe that what has been discovered so far is only the tip of the iceberg. For this reason, it is vital for the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the activities and background of Gnanaraja and Geethanjali and the entities connected directly or indirectly with them as serious offences including money laundering may have been committed.

In retaliation for my exposing these cheats and frauds, Geethanjali, Gnanaraja and their cronies have decided to make personal attacks towards me and my family that are false. Reports have been made on the same to the relevant authorities and I will take legal action against the culprits. Let me make it clear, I will not be intimidated. I will do everything possible to seek justice for the innocent victims who invested in this scam and will make sure the action is taken against the wrong doers.  

There are other serious matters relating to the modus operandi employed by Gnanaraja which I will be deal with once I have given my statement to the police.