Ex-billiards champion in custody over scam

Former billiards world champion Michael Ferreira and two others were yesterday remanded in police custody for 13 days over their alleged links with Hong Kong-based marketing company QNet which has been accused of duping at least 30,000 small investors.Ferreira, Malcolm Desai and Maganlal Balaji had surrendered in court on Friday and were remanded in custody by Special Judge D P Surana of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Court.For Ferreira, Friday’s development came as a severe blow on the eve of his 78th birthday.He told judge that he was a mere shareholder in the company and was not involved in misleading the investors or defrauding them.Through his lawyers Amit Desai and Sandeep Karnik, Ferreira said he had attended QNet’s programmes abroad to inspire as a former sports personality and not to sell or promote its products, and he did not receive any commissions or dividends from the company.The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police has formed a special team to investigate the estimated Rs4bn multi-layered marketing schemes through the master franchise QNet which allegedly left around 30,000 investors in the lurch.Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat demanded the police custody of Ferreira on grounds that as the 80% shareholder of Vihaar Direct Marketing Selling Ltd, he was a part of the conspiracy.Arguing against custody, Desai said that it was VDSL (Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd) which had misled people and Ferreira as a renowned sportsman had given inspirational talks and he did not derive any commissions or dividends for his efforts.The QNet scam first came to light in 2013 when a Mumbai suburban resident Gurpreet S Anand lodged a complaint alleging the company had duped more than 30,000 investors of around Rs4bnb by asking them to make upfront payments of Rs150,000 each.The firm used to sell distance-learning packages and biodisks which reportedly provided miraculous cures for major diseases like cancer; chi-pendants, gold articles, herbal products, holiday packages, etc.A renowned sports personality, Ferreira was honoured with Padma Bhushan, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award besides Shiv Chhatrapati Award instituted by the Maharashtra government along with several international accolades and honours.