Two Datuks held over Internet scam

Two Datuks and six others have been placed under remand to help investigations into a get-rich-quick scheme that allegedly promised “huge returns for a minimum investment.”

The Datuks, aged 47 and 57, were produced before a magistrate’s here yesterday together with the others, aged 26 to 58, after their arrest on Monday.

Magistrate Azniza Mohd Ali ordered them to be remanded for five days, until Oct 7.

The police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

The alleged scam, known as SwissCash or Swiss Mutual Fund (1948), was uncovered early last month and reported in a Malay tabloid.

Over 50,000 people have purportedly signed up for the scheme since its introduction in April last year.

The Swiss Embassy here has denied that its government had approved the scheme and also rebuffed claims that it was based in Switzerland.

SwissCash, which operates through the Internet, claims to be an “easy, fast and secure scheme.”

It claimed investors’ funds were channelled to business activities ranging from oil exploration to shipping and agriculture in the Caribbean.

Investors are required to pay a registration fee of US$30 (RM110) to join the scheme, which allegedly offers huge returns for a minimum investment of US$100 (RM370).

Those behind the scheme also claimed that investments of US$1,000 (RM3,700) or more could earn a profit of up to 300% after 15 months.

However, after the report appeared in the tabloid, the Securities Commission and Bank Negara released statements saying SwissCash had no licence to collect funds.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also issued a statement calling on those duped by the scam to quickly lodge reports.

Among the scheme’s purported victims are a lawyer, a consultant, a technician and the secretary-general of a government ministry. They claimed they had been cheated of nearly RM20mil.

Oct 23 may be public holiday

The single workday between the long Deepavali weekend and the Hari Raya holidays may be declared a public holiday to enable Malaysians to have a stretch of days off, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

The Prime Minister said the Cabinet would discuss whether to make that Monday a public holiday so that those celebrating Hari Raya could return to their kampung earlier.

Deepavali falls on Saturday, Oct 21, while Hari Raya is expected to fall on Tuesday, Oct 24.

“We will discuss this during the Cabinet meeting,” he told a press conference after chairing a meeting with ulamas at his office here yesterday.

Abdullah said he had also suggested to Inspector-General Tan Sri Musa Hassan that the speed limit on federal and state roads be reduced to curb accidents.

“I have asked Musa to discuss this with the other authorities,” he added.

He said it was better for motorists to arrive at their kampung late, as long “as they arrive safely.”

Cuepacs and the MTUC said making Oct 23 a holiday would also solve the problem of absenteeism.

Cuepacs president Datuk Nordin Abdul Hamid said the Government could always ask the civil servants to replace the day on a Saturday.

MTUC president Syed Sharir Syed Mahmud said that with a longer holiday, people could get a good rest.

Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) secretary-general Khairul Arifin said Oct 23 would be significant for Muslims as it would mark the last day of fasting before Hari Raya

Smoke from forest fires blankets large swath of Indonesia

Smoke and ash from land-clearing fires in Indonesia blanketed a large swath of the country's west on Monday, forcing residents to wear protective masks, sending air quality plummeting and delaying flights, officials and media reports said.

Skies were also hazy in neighboring Singapore due to the fires, a media report there said.

The smoke was shrouding an estimated 556,000 square kilometers (215,000 square miles) of land on the western islands of Sumatra and Borneo, officials and media reports said.

"The haze has persisted for a whole week,'' said Frans Tandipau, a senior official tasked with extinguishing forest fires on Sumatra island.

Fires from land-clearing activities in Sumatra and Borneo islands, and to a lesser extent Malaysia, have occurred almost every dry season since the late 1990s.

They are typically set by people looking for a cheap way to clear brush for plantations.

In Palangkaraya, on Kalimantan on the Indonesian side of Borneo island, many people were wearing face masks, residents there said. Flights in and out of airports were delayed early Monday when the haze was at its worse.

Air quality levels had reached "dangerous'' levels, from "unhealthy'' last week, according to a monitoring station in Palangkaraya, state news agency Antara reported.

Indonesia has been often criticized by its neighbors for not tackling the problem.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has vowed to crack down on landowners who set fires illegally, but inefficient and corrupt local authorities are apparently unable or unwilling to stamp put the problem.