Office of International Treasury Control
Encyclopedia
The Office of International Treasury Control (OITC) is a seemingly elaborate fraudulent organization which claims to be associated with the United Nations
and the Federal Reserve, the central bank
of the United States
. It has attempted to deceive people and organizations in Ecuador
, Fiji
and the United Kingdom
. The UN and Federal Reserve have denied any knowledge of or connection with OITC. The purpose of the hoax is unknown.
Curiously, the OITC purports to be a highly secret organization whose existence cannot be proven or disproven by internet research, and yet it maintains its own very public website. The OITC website does not explain why a highly secretive organization would want, or need, to maintain such a website; nor does the website explain why such an apparently wealthy organization would have such a badly designed website with many typographical errors.
However, it has consistently declined to publish any independent verification of its status, claiming that only individuals with a "level 3" or "level 5" security classification can see its "protocol for verification". No context or jurisdiction is given for which these "levels" apply. According to an OITC spokesman, "the protocol for verification can only be undertaken by a senior member of the Government or the Reserve Bank. That's why you will never find anything about it on the Internet." The UN is supposedly "legally bound" to respond to a verification request but only as long as the requisite protocols and procedures are followed, otherwise "no response will be received from the United Nations." The only way a verification request can be made is "through the UN headquarters in New York or Geneva, not via, or by, any sub-office of the UN.". According to Keith Scott, the OITC's "Chief of Cabinet" and "Special Envoy and Executor for His Excellency Ray Cchat Dam", the OITC is run by the UN "under a concept of plausible deniability
."
These claims have been denied by the United Nations. The UN has stated emphatically that "there is no such thing as a 'UN Charter Control Number,' quoted by the organisation to prove its validity." The UN's representative in Fiji was unable to "verify its existence and its security rating" and the UN's representative in Colombia
has stated that all UN agencies are listed on the UN's official website and that they know of no secret agencies .
Scott claims that the OITC was set up following a paper that he presented to the US Federal Reserve in 1998 requesting that Dr. Ray Chhat Dam of Thailand
be appointed as "the sole arbiter of the centralized wealth of the world, which was controlled under the Federal Reserve under the Bank of International Settlements". OITC funds are said to be "held in an organization called the Institutional Parent Administration Account."
Scott has also stated that the OITC's funds are "held in the Institutional Parent Administration Account of the Federal Reserve System." However, the US government has stated that "within the Federal Reserve there exists no organization or department with the initials OITC, nor anything similar to this." The Bank for International Settlements
– an international organization representing central banks – has also denied any knowledge of the OITC.
The physical location of the OITC is also unclear
. According to a document produced by the OITC in March 2006, it has offices in Malaysia, the Netherlands
, the United States
, Australia
and Ecuador
. Elsewhere it has been claimed that the OITC has head offices in Singapore
and Cambodia
. However, the UK Daily Telegraph noted in 2005 that "the Bangkok number on their letterhead doesn't exist" and in April 2006 the Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Bureau found that the OITC "neither has any fixed address or office, nor are there any reliable contact addresses." Correspondence said to be from OITC officers lists Freeserve
e-mail addresses as contacts. The organization's website, which purports to be authorized by various official organizations, is http://www.unoitc.org.
Speaking at a press conference in Fiji, self-described OITC representative Masi Kaumaitotoya told the local media: "Don't you ever, ever, ever again report negatively on OITC or we'll sue you for defamation." Individuals claiming to represent the OITC have also accused online critics of "serious defamation in the plural" [sic].
in the United Kingdom. The London Daily Telegraph reported that "a Mr David Sale and a Dr Ray Dam claim to have offered to buy MG Rover for $5 billion." The Financial Times reported that the OITC had given the administrators a deposit of one pound, made out as a postal order
. According to Sale and Dam, Rover's administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers
(PWC) were refusing to take their bid seriously even though (according to them) Prime Minister
Tony Blair
had acknowledged it in a letter. However, PWC told the Telegraph that it had never heard of the OITC and the Prime Minister's office had no record of the OITC's letter. The bid met with considerable skepticism among MG Rover enthusiasts and was evidently discarded by the administrators, as the OITC did not appear on the final list of bidders. No proof has ever been provided of the supposed letter to Mr Blair.
ian municipality of Oña
, travelled to Cambodia
to meet representatives of the OITC to discuss an investment proposal. According to the local media, OITC called itself variously the Oficina Internacional de Control del Tesoro or Oficina Internacional de Control de Tesorería. It represented itself as being headquartered in Singapore
, Cambodia and Malaysia, and declared its intention to establish an office in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil
.
The OITC appointed Ullauri as its "ambassador" to the 219 municipalities of Ecuador. Following her trip to Cambodia, she convened a meeting of municipal leaders from Ecuador's Azuay
, Cañar
and Morona-Santiago Province
s to brief them on the OITC's proposals.
The OITC proposed to invest US$150 million in a hydro-electric project in the region, subject to Ullauri placing $20,000 in a bank account in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia as a deposit. She paid in the money as requested in December 2005 but several months later there was no sign of the promised millions from the OITC. In mid-April 2006 Ullauri publicly denounced the OITC as a fraud and lodged a complaint against its principal, Ray Cchat Dam, and two Ecuadorians said to be its local agents.
(US$3.5 billion
) in a bank for indigenous Fijians
, to be established in conjunction with the Viti Landowners and Resources Association (VLRA). Another $2.5 billion was later offered, for a total of $6 billion. The OITC's "Chief of Cabinet", Keith Scott, met with the Fijian finance minister Ratu Jone Kubuabola
and 215 middle level Fijian chiefs to promise that the money would be brought to Fiji and that "this cannot be stopped by any human being." According to Ratu
Osea Gavidi of the VLRA, the bank would help Fijians to access funds for development purposes which they could not get from commercial organizations, and so make it easier for Fijians to obtain loans. Ratu Osea claimed that the OITC had already invested $400 billion in China
, though the Chinese Embassy in Fiji was unable to confirm this.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on 3 March between Scott and the head of the VLRA, under which the OITC was to provide 50% of the bank's funding and the landowners the other 50%. They were expected to use their land and resources as collateral. Under the terms of the MOU, the OITC would fund equipment for landowners, the development of a "Community Aged Center", the development of a community-owned tourist and resort centre, the construction of modern prisons and support for a reforestation programme. The MOU was signed in chaotic circumstances which culminated in the attending journalists being thrown out by security guards acting for the OITC. Ratu Osea Gavidi subsequently claimed that the OITC had already deposited $3 billion in a bank account but the Reserve Bank of Fiji
's Deputy Governor, Sada Reddy, denied that any such transaction had taken place.
The OITC's offer attracted immediate suspicion from a number of sources. The Fijian media played a leading role in questioning the bona fides of the OITC and pointed out the lack of verifiable information, to the evident annoyance of OITC representatives who threatened to sue "for so much the biggest insurance company in the world would not be able to pay the damages." In response, the country's leading newspaper, the Fiji Times, ran a front-page open letter to the OITC's Keith Scott, declaring: "You cannot continue to refuse to tell us, the people of Fiji, who you are. ... Mere words and assurances are not enough. We want hard, commercial facts that we can check and verify."
, asked the immigration service and police to investigate the bona fides of Scott and the OITC. Vosanibola said that the government had no knowledge of either party and noted that neither Scott nor the OITC had submitted an application to do business in Fiji, as required by immigration regulations. The Native Land Trust Board also told the Viti Landowners and Resources Association that it had "no legal authority to sell native land privately."
The Prime Minister of Fiji
, Laisenia Qarase
, who is himself a former bank managing director, also questioned the deal. He told the Fiji Times
newspaper, "I doubt the people will see the money" and commented that "no one in their right mind would inject such a large sum of money into an economy as small as ours. They (VLRA) must be careful when someone comes along and promises such a thing, they must check it out first."
Following the Fijian government's request for a police investigation, Fiji Commissioner of Police
Andrew Hughes
told the media that "nothing that [the police] received gave credence or legitimacy to the organisation and Mr Scott ... What we can say is that the information that we do have at hand leads us to conclude that the proposed transaction is highly irregular, it is questionable and leaves me with a profound level of suspicion." He urged the Fijian parties to the OITC deal not to "send any money if it's requested as some form of an advanced fee for this transaction to proceed" (the sending of advance fees is a widely used method of fraud
). He also disclosed that Keith Scott was "known by Australian authorities", though he was not at liberty to provide further details.
The OITC's deal was viewed with scepticism in other areas of Fijian society. The country's Great Council of Chiefs expressed concern, noting that there had been recent high-profile instances of fraud, and advised Fijians to be careful about assessing such promises. Fiji's newspapers ran numerous letters questioning the veracity of the OITC's claims. An online poll run by asked "Is Dr Keith Scott and OITC's multi-billion dollar donation to Fiji landowners genuine?"; 89% of respondents voted no. The Fiji Sun published a strongly worded denunciation of the OITC, calling it "a scam in the making" and a "get-rich scheme". However, some other prominent groups supported the deal. The Assembly of Christian Churches, an affiliate of the Viti Landowners and Resources Association, supported the deal and stated that it had no doubts about the bona fides of the OITC.
In the end, the deal apparently fell through after the Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Board (FTIB) rejected an application to set up a bank, which had been submitted by an entity called Triunion Investment Holdings Limited on behalf of the OITC. The FTIB found that the OITC "neither has any fixed address or office nor are there any reliable contact addresses which are pivotal for approval of applications." The decision produced an angry response from the head of the VLRA, who vowed that "Our relationship with the OITC will continue no matter what."
’s capital Phnom Penh
. The real estate firm Asia Real Property Co, Ltd identified itself in promotional material as the subsidiary of an international real estate consultancy known as "ARP-OITC Group Co Ltd (Cambodia)". This was even posted on a signboard in front of the office on Phnom Penh’s Norodom Boulevard
.
During an interview with the Phnom Penh Post
in October at the ARP-OITC offices in Phnom Penh, executive managing director Soush Saroeun claimed the firm was involved in joint ventures with companies from France
, Canada
and Vietnam
. As proof of his claim he provided a document dated 29 December, 2009 and signed by HSBC
Group Finance Director "Dr David J Flint". As of December 2009, HSBC’s Group Finance Director was Douglas Flint.
Ray C. Dam and Soush Saroeun were arrested on Saturday 18 December, 2010 in Dam’s luxurious home on Street 240 in Daun Penh
district. According to Cambodia’s Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith
, Prime Minister Hun Sen
had personally ordered investigation into the case after learning that Dam had pretended to be an advisor to Senate President Chea Sim
. Two days later, on 20 December 2010, the two were charged with forgery by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after allegedly fabricating documents claiming ties to the United Nations, the United States government and HSBC Bank.
According to unconfirmed reports on the internet, Dam was released from custody in early January 2011. The reason for his release is unknown.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and the Federal Reserve, the central bank
Central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It has attempted to deceive people and organizations in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The UN and Federal Reserve have denied any knowledge of or connection with OITC. The purpose of the hoax is unknown.
Curiously, the OITC purports to be a highly secret organization whose existence cannot be proven or disproven by internet research, and yet it maintains its own very public website. The OITC website does not explain why a highly secretive organization would want, or need, to maintain such a website; nor does the website explain why such an apparently wealthy organization would have such a badly designed website with many typographical errors.
The OITC's status
The OITC claims to be "an international institution registered under the United Nations (under UN Charter Control No: 10-60847) with substantial assets in its control" . OITC spokesmen have claimed that the organization has been chartered by the United Nations under a secret protocol and that "until today [it has been] a secret organization known by some particularly in the highest levels of banking". The OITC claims that it was established by "Governments of the World of Legal Decadency". It remains unclear why an organization that purports to value secrecy would seek to publicize its secret existence with, for example, a poorly formatted website.However, it has consistently declined to publish any independent verification of its status, claiming that only individuals with a "level 3" or "level 5" security classification can see its "protocol for verification". No context or jurisdiction is given for which these "levels" apply. According to an OITC spokesman, "the protocol for verification can only be undertaken by a senior member of the Government or the Reserve Bank. That's why you will never find anything about it on the Internet." The UN is supposedly "legally bound" to respond to a verification request but only as long as the requisite protocols and procedures are followed, otherwise "no response will be received from the United Nations." The only way a verification request can be made is "through the UN headquarters in New York or Geneva, not via, or by, any sub-office of the UN.". According to Keith Scott, the OITC's "Chief of Cabinet" and "Special Envoy and Executor for His Excellency Ray Cchat Dam", the OITC is run by the UN "under a concept of plausible deniability
Plausible deniability
Plausible deniability is, at root, credible ability to deny a fact or allegation, or to deny previous knowledge of a fact. The term most often refers to the denial of blame in chains of command, where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible,...
."
These claims have been denied by the United Nations. The UN has stated emphatically that "there is no such thing as a 'UN Charter Control Number,' quoted by the organisation to prove its validity." The UN's representative in Fiji was unable to "verify its existence and its security rating" and the UN's representative in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
has stated that all UN agencies are listed on the UN's official website and that they know of no secret agencies .
Scott claims that the OITC was set up following a paper that he presented to the US Federal Reserve in 1998 requesting that Dr. Ray Chhat Dam of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
be appointed as "the sole arbiter of the centralized wealth of the world, which was controlled under the Federal Reserve under the Bank of International Settlements". OITC funds are said to be "held in an organization called the Institutional Parent Administration Account."
Scott has also stated that the OITC's funds are "held in the Institutional Parent Administration Account of the Federal Reserve System." However, the US government has stated that "within the Federal Reserve there exists no organization or department with the initials OITC, nor anything similar to this." The Bank for International Settlements
Bank for International Settlements
The Bank for International Settlements is an intergovernmental organization of central banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks." It is not accountable to any national government...
– an international organization representing central banks – has also denied any knowledge of the OITC.
The physical location of the OITC is also unclear
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
. According to a document produced by the OITC in March 2006, it has offices in Malaysia, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. Elsewhere it has been claimed that the OITC has head offices in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. However, the UK Daily Telegraph noted in 2005 that "the Bangkok number on their letterhead doesn't exist" and in April 2006 the Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Bureau found that the OITC "neither has any fixed address or office, nor are there any reliable contact addresses." Correspondence said to be from OITC officers lists Freeserve
Freeserve
Freeserve was a British Internet Service Provider, founded in 1998. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged into the Wanadoo group in 2000, itself a subsidiary of France Telecom...
e-mail addresses as contacts. The organization's website, which purports to be authorized by various official organizations, is http://www.unoitc.org.
Speaking at a press conference in Fiji, self-described OITC representative Masi Kaumaitotoya told the local media: "Don't you ever, ever, ever again report negatively on OITC or we'll sue you for defamation." Individuals claiming to represent the OITC have also accused online critics of "serious defamation in the plural" [sic].
The OITC and MG Rover
The OITC first came to public attention in 2005 with an attempted bid for the failed MG Rover GroupMG Rover Group
MG Rover was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consortium in 2000....
in the United Kingdom. The London Daily Telegraph reported that "a Mr David Sale and a Dr Ray Dam claim to have offered to buy MG Rover for $5 billion." The Financial Times reported that the OITC had given the administrators a deposit of one pound, made out as a postal order
Postal Order
In the United Kingdom , a Postal Order is used for sending money through the mail. In the United States, this is known as a Postal money order...
. According to Sale and Dam, Rover's administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
(PWC) were refusing to take their bid seriously even though (according to them) Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
had acknowledged it in a letter. However, PWC told the Telegraph that it had never heard of the OITC and the Prime Minister's office had no record of the OITC's letter. The bid met with considerable skepticism among MG Rover enthusiasts and was evidently discarded by the administrators, as the OITC did not appear on the final list of bidders. No proof has ever been provided of the supposed letter to Mr Blair.
The OITC and Ecuador
In late 2005 Germania Ullauri, the mayoress of the EcuadorEcuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian municipality of Oña
Oña
Oña is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2009 census , the municipality has a population of 1,256 inhabitants.It is home to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña....
, travelled to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
to meet representatives of the OITC to discuss an investment proposal. According to the local media, OITC called itself variously the Oficina Internacional de Control del Tesoro or Oficina Internacional de Control de Tesorería. It represented itself as being headquartered in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Cambodia and Malaysia, and declared its intention to establish an office in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
.
The OITC appointed Ullauri as its "ambassador" to the 219 municipalities of Ecuador. Following her trip to Cambodia, she convened a meeting of municipal leaders from Ecuador's Azuay
Azuay Province
Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the national park of El Cajas....
, Cañar
Cañar Province
Cañar is a province in Ecuador. The capital is Azogues. At the time of census 2005 the province had a population of 221,045. It contains the 16th-century ruins of Ingapirca, the best-known Inca settlement in Ecuador and a product of their conquest of the indigenous Cañari.- Cantons :The province...
and Morona-Santiago Province
Morona-Santiago Province
Morona Santiago is a province in Ecuador. The province was established on February 24, 1954. The capital is Macas.- Economy :The provincial economy is industrially unexploited to its potential due to low means of transportation. Its economy relies largely on the tourist sector of the rain forest...
s to brief them on the OITC's proposals.
The OITC proposed to invest US$150 million in a hydro-electric project in the region, subject to Ullauri placing $20,000 in a bank account in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia as a deposit. She paid in the money as requested in December 2005 but several months later there was no sign of the promised millions from the OITC. In mid-April 2006 Ullauri publicly denounced the OITC as a fraud and lodged a complaint against its principal, Ray Cchat Dam, and two Ecuadorians said to be its local agents.
The OITC and Fiji
In late February 2006, the OITC made a public offer to invest F$6 billionFijian dollar
The dollar has been the currency of Fiji since 1969 and was also the currency between 1867 and 1873. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively FJ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
(US$3.5 billion
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
) in a bank for indigenous Fijians
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
, to be established in conjunction with the Viti Landowners and Resources Association (VLRA). Another $2.5 billion was later offered, for a total of $6 billion. The OITC's "Chief of Cabinet", Keith Scott, met with the Fijian finance minister Ratu Jone Kubuabola
Jone Kubuabola
Ratu Jone Yavala Kubuabola was Fiji's Minister for Finance, a position he held starting in 2000. He also represented the South West Urban Fijian Communal constituencies in the House of Representatives, to which he was elected as a candidate of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua in...
and 215 middle level Fijian chiefs to promise that the money would be brought to Fiji and that "this cannot be stopped by any human being." According to Ratu
Ratu
Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...
Osea Gavidi of the VLRA, the bank would help Fijians to access funds for development purposes which they could not get from commercial organizations, and so make it easier for Fijians to obtain loans. Ratu Osea claimed that the OITC had already invested $400 billion in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, though the Chinese Embassy in Fiji was unable to confirm this.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on 3 March between Scott and the head of the VLRA, under which the OITC was to provide 50% of the bank's funding and the landowners the other 50%. They were expected to use their land and resources as collateral. Under the terms of the MOU, the OITC would fund equipment for landowners, the development of a "Community Aged Center", the development of a community-owned tourist and resort centre, the construction of modern prisons and support for a reforestation programme. The MOU was signed in chaotic circumstances which culminated in the attending journalists being thrown out by security guards acting for the OITC. Ratu Osea Gavidi subsequently claimed that the OITC had already deposited $3 billion in a bank account but the Reserve Bank of Fiji
Reserve Bank of Fiji
The Reserve Bank of Fiji is the central bank of the Pacific island country of Fiji. The responsibilities of the RBF include issue of currency, control of money supply, currency exchange, monetary stability, promotion of sound finances, and fostering economic development.- Reserve Bank's Statutory...
's Deputy Governor, Sada Reddy, denied that any such transaction had taken place.
The OITC's offer attracted immediate suspicion from a number of sources. The Fijian media played a leading role in questioning the bona fides of the OITC and pointed out the lack of verifiable information, to the evident annoyance of OITC representatives who threatened to sue "for so much the biggest insurance company in the world would not be able to pay the damages." In response, the country's leading newspaper, the Fiji Times, ran a front-page open letter to the OITC's Keith Scott, declaring: "You cannot continue to refuse to tell us, the people of Fiji, who you are. ... Mere words and assurances are not enough. We want hard, commercial facts that we can check and verify."
Government views
The Fijian government expressed serious concerns about the deal and the bona fides of the OITC. Fiji's finance ministry noted that the OITC had provided no proof that it had the money and the home affairs minister, Josefa VosanibolaJosefa Vosanibola
Josefa Bole Vosanibola is a Fijian politician, who has served as Minister for Home Affairs since 16 December 2004, when he was appointed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to succeed Joketani Cokanasiga...
, asked the immigration service and police to investigate the bona fides of Scott and the OITC. Vosanibola said that the government had no knowledge of either party and noted that neither Scott nor the OITC had submitted an application to do business in Fiji, as required by immigration regulations. The Native Land Trust Board also told the Viti Landowners and Resources Association that it had "no legal authority to sell native land privately."
The Prime Minister of Fiji
Prime Minister of Fiji
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji is the head of government of Fiji. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President under the terms of the now-suspended 1997 constitution....
, Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...
, who is himself a former bank managing director, also questioned the deal. He told the Fiji Times
Fiji Times
The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....
newspaper, "I doubt the people will see the money" and commented that "no one in their right mind would inject such a large sum of money into an economy as small as ours. They (VLRA) must be careful when someone comes along and promises such a thing, they must check it out first."
Following the Fijian government's request for a police investigation, Fiji Commissioner of Police
Commissioner of Police (Fiji)
Fiji has a unified national police force, the Fiji Police, whose motto is Salus Populi.The Fijian Commissioner of Police title had been held by Australian police officer Andrew Hughes since 2003 but after the 2006 takeover of the Government the post has been reserved for a local.The Commissioner is...
Andrew Hughes
Andrew Hughes (police)
Andrew 'Andy' Hughes is a senior officer of the Australian Federal Police who, until recently, served as the Chief Police Officer for the Australian Capital Territory . The CPO position is similar to the role of Australian Commissioners of Police, that is, the chief executive of the ACT Policing...
told the media that "nothing that [the police] received gave credence or legitimacy to the organisation and Mr Scott ... What we can say is that the information that we do have at hand leads us to conclude that the proposed transaction is highly irregular, it is questionable and leaves me with a profound level of suspicion." He urged the Fijian parties to the OITC deal not to "send any money if it's requested as some form of an advanced fee for this transaction to proceed" (the sending of advance fees is a widely used method of fraud
Advance fee fraud
An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain...
). He also disclosed that Keith Scott was "known by Australian authorities", though he was not at liberty to provide further details.
The OITC's deal was viewed with scepticism in other areas of Fijian society. The country's Great Council of Chiefs expressed concern, noting that there had been recent high-profile instances of fraud, and advised Fijians to be careful about assessing such promises. Fiji's newspapers ran numerous letters questioning the veracity of the OITC's claims. An online poll run by asked "Is Dr Keith Scott and OITC's multi-billion dollar donation to Fiji landowners genuine?"; 89% of respondents voted no. The Fiji Sun published a strongly worded denunciation of the OITC, calling it "a scam in the making" and a "get-rich scheme". However, some other prominent groups supported the deal. The Assembly of Christian Churches, an affiliate of the Viti Landowners and Resources Association, supported the deal and stated that it had no doubts about the bona fides of the OITC.
In the end, the deal apparently fell through after the Fiji Islands Trade and Investment Board (FTIB) rejected an application to set up a bank, which had been submitted by an entity called Triunion Investment Holdings Limited on behalf of the OITC. The FTIB found that the OITC "neither has any fixed address or office nor are there any reliable contact addresses which are pivotal for approval of applications." The decision produced an angry response from the head of the VLRA, who vowed that "Our relationship with the OITC will continue no matter what."
OITC story unravels
In 2010 the secretive OITC suddenly surfaced in CambodiaCambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
’s capital Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
. The real estate firm Asia Real Property Co, Ltd identified itself in promotional material as the subsidiary of an international real estate consultancy known as "ARP-OITC Group Co Ltd (Cambodia)". This was even posted on a signboard in front of the office on Phnom Penh’s Norodom Boulevard
Norodom Boulevard
Norodom Boulevard is a major boulevard of Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia named after King Norodom. It connects with Monivong Bridge in the south-east of the city at the Bassac River and joins with the north of the city at Wat Phnom....
.
During an interview with the Phnom Penh Post
Phnom Penh Post
The Phnom Penh Post is a daily English-language newspaper published in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded in 1992 by publisher Michael Hayes, it is Cambodia's oldest English-language newspaper. It is printed in full-color tabloid format. The Phnom Penh Post is also available in Khmer language...
in October at the ARP-OITC offices in Phnom Penh, executive managing director Soush Saroeun claimed the firm was involved in joint ventures with companies from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. As proof of his claim he provided a document dated 29 December, 2009 and signed by HSBC
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
Group Finance Director "Dr David J Flint". As of December 2009, HSBC’s Group Finance Director was Douglas Flint.
Ray C. Dam and Soush Saroeun were arrested on Saturday 18 December, 2010 in Dam’s luxurious home on Street 240 in Daun Penh
Daun Penh
Daun Penh is a major district in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Many major businesses in Phnom Penh like Sorya Shopping Center and Mokod Pich Jewelry Enterprise are located here. The district has an area of 7.44 km²...
district. According to Cambodia’s Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith
Khieu Kanharith
Khieu Kanharith is the Cambodian Minister of Information. Khieu, formerly a newspaper editor, was first elected to the National Assembly of Cambodia in 1981. He was jailed in 1990 for suspicion of dissident activities; in 1991, Hun Sen asked him to serve as an advisor, and in 1992, he was promoted...
, Prime Minister Hun Sen
Hun Sen
Hun Sen is the current Prime Minister of Cambodia.He has been the sole leader of the Cambodian People's Party , which has governed Cambodia since the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979...
had personally ordered investigation into the case after learning that Dam had pretended to be an advisor to Senate President Chea Sim
Chea Sim
Chea Sim is a Chinese Cambodian politician. He was the President of the National Assembly from 1981–98 and is currently the President of the Senate .-Biography:...
. Two days later, on 20 December 2010, the two were charged with forgery by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after allegedly fabricating documents claiming ties to the United Nations, the United States government and HSBC Bank.
According to unconfirmed reports on the internet, Dam was released from custody in early January 2011. The reason for his release is unknown.