22.12.2016
"With Qnet, we have another evil candidate who cheats people!
QNet Ltd, formerly known as QuestNet, GoldQuest, and QI Limited, is a Hong Kong-based direct selling company owned by the QI Group.QNet has been the centre of various controversies.
In 2002, the Australian Office of Consumer and Business Affairs listed the company as one of 61 alleged pyramid schemes.The Nepalese Home Ministry banned the company from operating in Nepal in 2003, and Bahadur Manandhar, chief of the foreign exchange department of the Nepal Rastra Bank, said GoldQuest was "a hundred percent fraud." The Sri Lankan government banned GoldQuest in 2005, claiming that the company had caused 15 million dollars to leave the country.
In 2005, the Iranian government also banned GoldQuest, after prosecutors found that company activities had "led to the exit half of a billion dollars from Iran."
In 2007, APLI, the direct selling Association of Indonesia, called GoldQuest a pyramid scheme,] and Interpol arrested Vijay Eswaran and other company officials for fraud.
QNet responded that the allegation is unfounded.After three weeks, Indonesian courts released Vijay Eswaran and dismissed the charge soon afterward.QNet continues to operate in Indonesia.In 2008, around 3,000 people marched on the presidential palace in Kabul to demonstrate against the government's temporary withdrawal of QuestNet's license to operate in Afghanistan. The business started in Afghanistan with around 600 IRs in 2006 and had expanded to 21,000 when the government temporarily withdrew the license to enable it to write operating laws.The Rwandan Government's Ministry of Finance banned QuestNet in 2009 for violations of company and tax laws after The National Bank of Rwanda described the company as a pyramid scheme. Questnet appealed and was granted relief on condition that it follow the country's laws in the future.
Also in 2009, the Sudanese government banned QuestNet after allegations were made relating to poor product quality and the non-receipt of products.
The same year, the Syrian Ministry of Economics shut down QuestNet for violating its commercial registration, stating that the company had operated a pyramid scheme in Syria and withdrawn billions of Syrian pounds from the country, while also paying few taxes.The shutdown also applies to other agencies of the company.
In 2010 Questnet opened in Turkey with 150 distributors; 80 of which police detained in an investigation that charged 42 with gaining an unfair advantage. In 2011, the Turkish Trade Ministry investigated QNet following complaints that it was a rebrand of Questnet.In 2011, QI Group resumed operations in Turkey with the acquisition of the Dögan Hotel in Antalya.
The governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia.Indonesia, and India have accused QNet of operating a product-based pyramid scheme.Dar al-Ifta issued QNet a Fatwā in 2012 stating its business in Egypt is haram (forbidden under Islamic law) and could harm the country's economy.In 2010 the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce and Industry banned Qnet, accusing the company of theft, falsification, and failure to register, and warned citizens to avoid involvement in fraudulent schemes, mentioning QNet specifically.
In August 2013, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Central Bureau of Investigation of India made the first arrest in a case which began in India in 2008.Members of the company were arrested for cheating and were remanded into police custody until August 22. EOW sent teams to Bangalore and Chennai to investigate fraud linked to Vijay Eswaran, considered the prime accused in the QNet case. Six of Qnet's bank accounts were frozen as part of the case.A case of money laundering was registered against QNet, its franchise Vihaan Direct Selling, and a few others by the Enforcement Directorate.In 2014, Mumbai police froze the bank account of DaneshIrani, son of actor BomanIrani, after it was found that he had received lakhs of rupees as an independent representative of Qnet. In February 2014, the MD of Questnet India, previous name of Qnet,was arrested after a lookout notice was issued. MD PushpamAppalanaidu faced 21 cases of cheating filed by various investors and sections under Prize Chits Money Circulation Banning Schemes Act were also invoked against her.QNet has advocated for the regulation of Indian multilevel marketing companies and for the banning of pyramid schemes in India.Though there are multiple arrests of the distributors, due to lack of Direct selling regulations and law in India, the court yet cannot convict the company and its associates despite of FIR lodged in the year 2013.
Donald Frazier, a writer for Forbes who focuses on Asian businesses, said in 2012 that the charges against QNet "tend to originate in apocryphal, anonymous or debunked sources".In 2014 the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police filed a First Information Report against QNet and its Indian subsidiary Vihaan and barred them from holding workshops and training sessions.The Delhi Economic Offences Wing (EOW) also filed anFirst Information Report in 2016 against QNet, Vihaan Direct Selling and three independent representatives of the company on the allegations of cheating and fraudulently operating a MLM scheme.
Four persons associated with QNet who promised 200 persons of getting them employment were arrested by police in Hyderabad on charges of cheating them of crores of rupees.Police said they were looking for the Managing Director and Director of QNet.The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police, after a three year probe, filed a 55000 page chargesheet against directors,shareholders of Vihaan Direct Selling Private Limited which is a master franchise of QNet in India.
GoldQuest disputed Iran's findings, claiming that their Iranian operations were not a pyramid scheme, but network marketing.In Moldova, the wife of a police officer was found to be the organiser of the largest scams of the nation. Case of QNet which was closed by prosecution for lack of evidence was again started with fresh investigations after receiving numerous complaints from defrauded people.