Karsten Miranda
karsten@herald-goa.com
Goans have lost a lot of money in the multi-crore Kamaxi Forex scam and they’re upset and angry at the slow pace at which the ongoing police investigations are being carried out. They feel that the accused is only buying time in jail to hide his assets and the money of the victims and they do not buy the argument that all of the money got lost in trading as alleged by the accused, Nilesh Raikar.
There are over 500 complainants in the case and the collective loss is pegged at around Rs 32 crore. Yet the biggest worry the victims in the Kamaxi Forex scam face is the absence of any reassurance from the authorities that steps have been initiated in earnest to recover their financial investments.
After coming on to the streets multiple times and holding morchas and public meetings right from the time they discovered the scam, to the filing of the FIR, to finding the then absconding accused, his subsequent arrest, the victims believe that it is only after they exerted pressure that the police were forced to take action.
They recalled how it was only after they protested recently that the Economic offence cell (EOC) of Goa police arrested the wife and mother of owner of Kamaxi Forex Private Limited, Nilesh Raikar in the cheating case.
However, the arrest of the trio was just the first step according to the victims who assert that the main aim should be to recover the lost money along with ensuring that the accused receives stringent punishment as per the law.
Against this backdrop, a marathon meeting was held on Tuesday morning with around 300 people in attendance with the packed hall with people even standing on the steps leading to the hall.
The tension was palpable and the anger was clearly visible as several of the victims spoke up and raised their concerns while also seeking queries with respect to their positions and how they should go forward.
Cruz Cardozo, president of the Shack Owners Welfare Society and Dixon Vaz, President of the Goan Seamen of India along with other leaders had called in experts to address the concerns of the victims.
Resource persons like chartered accountant Nagaraj Kale and Advocate Radharao Gracias spoke at length while Cruz and Dixon also addressed the crowd among others.
The public expressed their anger against the police and have alleged that the police are shielding the accused.
“The public are upset with the weak and slow police investigations. They have demanded for the immediate transfer of the Investigating officer, EOC police inspector Shivram Vaigankar with a new capable officer coming in. If there is no improvement in the case, it should be transferred to a competent authority like the CBI,” said Cruz.
While the crowd vowed to come on to the streets and protest if the case is not expedited and there are no results, they also discussed filing a public interest litigation (PIL) as a legal resort.
Advocate Radharao Gracias found fault in the manner in which the police were conducting the investigation and criticised any attempt by the police or the accused to misguide the people that money would be recovered without any hard proof. To begin with, Adv Radharao pointed out that the police had failed in filing the offences as per the relevant law pertaining to this case which would have ensured that the mechanism is set in place to investigate the case thoroughly and recover the money of the accused. Adv Radharao insisted that the police should immediately file all cases as individual cases given the sheer large number of complainants in the case and that the police had taken the matter lightly by filing only one case collectively. Adv Gracias further gave advise on the legal position of the victims and what should be done to protect their interests.
Kale explained the technical process involved in such cases of cheating and the role of the police. When asked to comment on what needs to be done to ensure that the investment put in by the victims is recovered, he said it was a must that a recovery officer be appointed who can ascertain all the final matters with regard to the investments made by the victims, where that money had been spent and that would be critical to help the authorities work towards recovering the money in a time bound manner.
“There are many concerns that the people have that were expressed here. This ranges from individual cases wherein in some cases the spouses have invested money. There are other cases regarding the nature of the transaction. Before the accused went absconding the accused had forced a victim to pay Rs 25 lakhs. All this has to be looked into,” said
Dixon.
