KUALA LUMPUR – A man in his 40s, who turned blind two years ago, is only scraping by day-to-day after losing his life savings to investment schemes cooked up by Datuk Allan Goh, the founder of the now-defunct MYAirline.
Known as CK, he said he thought the businesses he was investing in were legitimate and believed that they could be profitable.
“We were sceptical at first when we heard of these investment opportunities. But after consideration, we decided to give it a try, thinking we could make some money off it.
“We received a big payout but nothing else. During the Covid-19 pandemic, life was hard and looking for a new job was difficult. I had to quit as a software engineer due to a degenerative eye disease.
“My wife also had to quit her well-paying job to look after me. My wife worked odd jobs to make ends meet to pay for our mortgage. So, for nearly three years, we had to scrape together enough money just to live,” he said in a press conference, here yesterday.
“We tried to be positive about it, because Goh’s companies drafted a new agreement. Unfortunately, it’s all empty promises.
“We hope this suit will be able to provide us some justice and get our money back.”
The press conference had more than 100 people who claimed to be duped by Goh’s schemes.
CK is among the 213 individuals who had invested more than RM70 million with Goh.
The suit, filed by P. Ratnavali Devi S.P. Mudaliar at the Shah Alam High Court on June 25, claimed the investors were defrauded by Goh, who used his web of corporate entities to collect deposits.
Another investor, a single mother who declined to be named, said the schemes left her penniless and struggling to even buy food for her mother or pay for her children’s education.
She said she is haunted by mounting debts, especially with her car insurance and road tax having expired recently.
The woman, who is in her 50s, and had lost her husband due to Covid-19 in 2021, said she had invested in Goh’s companies hoping to secure a better future for her family.
“I am standing here as a victim of this investment. I’ve never received a single payout of this investment.
“I manage to borrow a small sum of money from friends and relatives, with a promise that I will pay them back.
“But in reality, I have no idea how to pay them back. I have so much debt and am so ashamed. What would my late husband think of me, if he knew I had done this?” said the woman, who was sobbing while she shared her harrowing experience.
Pressured by financial stress, the woman said she would rent out one of the two rooms in her apartment whenever her son was away at college.
“However, I have reached a point in my life where I cannot afford to pay for my child’s college tuition. I thanked God that there was a lady who offered to pay. I am sure she is a very kind hearted soul. But I cannot afford to ask her to do so in the coming semesters.
“Not only this… I cannot afford to visit my mother, because I have to think of the travelling costs. And when I do, I cannot even afford to buy her a meal.
“I just want to get all my money back.”
The suit also named Goh’s wife Neow Ean Lee, as well as 18 of his companies as the defendants.
According to the statement of claim, the scheme was structured so some investors who exited recouped their investments, while others wound up with no payouts.
Apart from this suit, Goh was also sued by 15 other investors over failure to pay monthly redemption value sums and financing returns from the investors’ outlay amounting to RM8 million. – June 28, 2024