Swiss Mutual Fund
Encyclopedia
The Swiss Mutual Fund or Swisscash is an offshore investment
Offshore investment
Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one's country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are a commonly accepted solution to reducing tax burdens levied in most countries to both large and small scale investors alike...

 company headquartered in the Commonwealth of Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

. Despite the inclusion of the word Swiss in its name, the Swiss Mutual Fund's board of directors is comprised solely of Dominican citizens, and the company does not appear to have any significant ties to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

History

Swiss Mutual Fund originally mentioned on its website that it was created after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in 1948 by the Cheviot family of France, with operations based in Bern, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. After 48 years (1996), the firm moved to the Commonwealth of Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

 due to changes in financial regulations in Europe. However the Swiss Embassy 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...

 has stated the following:


"The Swiss Mutual Fund (1948) and or Swiss Cash are not registered companies in Switzerland. Until proof of the contrary, the Embassy doubts that the remarks about these funds and their historic links to Switzerland as outlined on their original website are genuine. The original website is indeed registered in the USA and the contact telephone number is from New Jersey (USA)."


This information was also corroborated by the Swiss Embassy in Singapore.

On December 13 2006, Swiss Mutual Fund (1948) S.A. was struck off the Commonwealth of Dominica's Register of International Business Companies.

The current version of the Swiss Mutual Fund website no longer includes any information about the company's history.

At June 2007, the Securities Commission, Malaysia's capital markets regulator, has already taken action against the promoters of Swiss Cash.

The website went offline on August 27, members could not log into the website.

According to internet rumours, the website was down due to a hurricane, and would be back on 25 Aug. It did not come back online on August 25.

Afterward, few similar websites were up. But, no official announcement from Swiss Mutual Fund proved that whether those website are from Swiss Mutual Fund. Those websites only had front page, and could not be login.

Internet rumors said website down was due to upgrade and maintain, and would be back at 1 Sep 2007. Nothing happen at 1 Sep.

Internet rumors said Swiss Mutual Fund would be back at 15 Sep 07. Nothing happened at 15 Sep.

On Sept 17, the Financial Supervision Commission of the Commonwealth of Dominica released a press release which confirms that Swisscash is not a registered or incorporated company and does not have any established business in the island nation.

Criticism

There have been allegations that the Swiss Mutual Fund is a Pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...

, with victims predominantly in Malaysia. The Central Bank of Malaysia has issued warnings regarding Swiss Mutual Fund's legitimacy, and have advised investors to avoid the company and its subsidiaries. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has placed Swiss Mutual Fund in their Investor Alert List.

Hundreds of millions of US dollars have been lost to this scam by investors throughout the world and little or nothing has been done by governments to trace the trail of the money. It is feared that the money is actually used to fund global terrorist networks, and that terrorist networks have been using investment scams to obtain fund for their operations. Or some governments are behind this.

External links

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