Speak Asia can withdraw surveys anytime, says its legal advisor
May 20, 2011
Senior lawyer Ashok Saraogi has said that since Speak Asia is offering reward points for filling up surveys as an additional benefit, it can withdraw these if its contracts with its clients ends. Notably, not a single official from Speak Asia was present during the press conference called by its legal advisor in Mumbai
Yogesh Sapkale
Speak Asia (SpeakAsiaonline.com) may stop sending surveys and thus paying money through reward points to its panellists anytime and whenever it feels so.
Mumbai-based senior advocate and Speak Asia's legal advisor Ashok Saraogi, said, "The company is not selling any surveys to panellists but e-zines to its subscribers. Surveys are offered as additional benefit and can be withdrawn anytime if the company's contract with clients comes to an end."
Speaking at a press conference today in Mumbai, Adv Saraogi claimed that Speak Asia is selling its magazine over the Internet, which is allowed under the existing law in India and the company is in the publication business. For the survey business, the company caters to around 50-60 clients, he claimed, without giving out any names. Although Adv Saraogi said that he is a legal advisor for Speak Asia, not a single official from the company was present at the press conference.
There are some news reports about the ownership of Speak Asia which claim that the company is owned by Podium Ring International, a Virgin Islands registered entity and not by Harinder Kaur aka Haren as she is known to all the panellists. Denying the media report, Adv Saraogi said, "Mr Haren and his wife own majority stake in Speak Asia. Its chief executive for India, Manoj Kumar, also holds some stake in the company."
When asked about the bankers of Speak Asia or the lenders used by the company for banking, Adv Saraogi said the company has accounts with ICICI Bank and ING Vysya Bank. However, he could not tell under which names the accounts are opened. Since Speak Asia is not registered nor has any know your customer (KYC) compliance; no bank would open an account using the company's name.
According to Moneylife's investigations, Speak India Network Marketing P Ltd, a registered entity in Mumbai, with Indian directors and Speak India Online, are collecting money from survey panellists and have accounts in ICICI Bank, ING Vysya Bank, State Bank of India and a dozen others. (Read more: The Speak Asia money trail).
All the people who have enrolled with Speak Asia believe and have been claiming that they are getting money for filing out surveys. Some even said that they have not even heard about the e-zine, for which the company collects Rs11,000. Even the website of the company, the only place where it exists besides Singapore, says it is Asia's largest online survey company.
Adv Saraogi, however, says that the company's main product is the e-zine and survey and other activities are "side-products." Asked why then the company's site shows only the survey as the product, Adv Saraogi said, "Jismein jyaada paisa milta hai wohi dikhate hain (We display the products which gives us more money). Any company would like to show its best selling product and hence Speak Asia site shows surveys."
At present, Speak Asia does not offer any refund in case of cancellation of subscription, but Adv Saraogi said he would tell Speak Asia within a week, to allow discontinuation of subscription.
We learn from our investigations and this has been confirmed by Speak Asia officials, that the company is not registered in India and does not have any establishment or office in the country.
This makes it difficult to start proceedings against it, in case somebody wants to file a case. It becomes difficult to file a case in any police station as the company does not have any address in India and hence the police might refuse to lodge a complaint. According to Adv Saraogi, in such cases, one can file a case from whatever location he or she is present and has accessed the website. Police can register a complaint based on the IP address location, he said.
Adv Saraogi added that he would suggest to Mr Haren and his wife, the majority owners of Speak Asia Online Pte Ltd, to set up a permanent establishment in India.
Speak Asia, which claims to sell subscriptions for an e-zine called 'Surveys Today', issues electronic payment receipts. Adv Saraogi said that the receipts should be issued in the parent company's name. However, when pointed out that Speak Asia has been issuing payment receipts under different names, like Online Surveys Today, Haren Ventures Pte Ltd (HVP), the legal advisor said, people use names of subordinates or subsidiaries to lower tax burdens.
He even cited an example saying that he may ask his client to issue payment in his subordinate's name, in case he owes some dues to his junior to lessen his own tax burden.
According to media reports, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has started an investigation into Speak Asia and is working together with the RBI and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Similarly, Bharatiya Janata Party's national secretary, Kirit Somaiyaa, has filed a case against Speak Asia with the Economics Offences Wing (EoW), in Mumbai.
However, Adv Saraogi claimed that as per his knowledge, there is no case registered against Speak Asia anywhere in the country and they have not received any intimation either from EoW or any other authorities.
Mumbai-based Adv Saraogi is a senior lawyer famous for handling mostly criminal cases. He had defended extradited gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 serial blasts trial a few years ago. After the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, he had even shown his willingness to defend one of the terrorists, Amir Ajmal Qasab, but later dropped the plan after agitations by the Shiv Sena. Last year, he had won a case against Sanjay Dutt over a financial row with producer Shakeel Noorani, which resulted in the attachment of the film star's house and office in Bandra.
In other case, Adv Saraogi also helped yesteryear's film star Manoj Kumar to remove a scene from 'Om Shanti Om' which the thespian had objected to. Shah Rukh Khan, producer of the film, complied.
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