Swiss Cash has emerged on a new site on the internet, ahead of the September 15 date that chief financial officer Michael Mansfield had given to investors.

Meanwhile, the operators of the high-yielding investment scheme seem to have as many defenders as critics, as indicated in a flood of emails and calls following the Financial Gleaner's story last Friday saying the website had disappeared.

Message 'alert'

On the new site accessed by Wednesday Business - www.swisscashguide.com - Mansfield in a seven-point 'alert' to clients said the original website was locked down in August by the international police, Interpol, but that the company was working with a new but unnamed 'partner' to get back online by September 15.

A section of the message reads: "In 18 Aug., 2007, the Mareva department of Interpol has blocked our servers and websites and locked them all and also all our mirror websites and brought our case to an international court without any document against us. Just as we were the best HY (high yielding) paying on Internet. While we have over 580,000 investors worldwide in 200 countries."

At least two persons said via email they were told the site had been locked down because it had been taken over by hackers. A check on the Interpol website turned up no reference to Swiss Cash., and, up to press time, Interpol had not responded to a request for comment verifying Mansfield's claim.

But the Malaysian authorities have acquired a worldwide injunction against the company and its associates, blocking disposal of Swiss Cash assets.

Second warning

On Sunday, the Financial Services Commission in Jamaica published a second warning notice about Swiss Cash, in a reminder that the investment scheme was not licensed to do business in Jamaica.

"The FSC has been receiving calls from the public requesting assistance in gaining access to Swiss Cash," the regulatory agency said. "Callers report that they are unable to gain access to the entity's website to check on their investment."

But the FSC also advised that it was unable to assist persons who "knowingly" invest in entities that are not licensed or registered in Jamaica.

One of the emails to The Gleaner, however, said the investor had received his 25 per cent payout for last month, and suggested that the FSC was being alarmist.

Mansfield's alert also claims that in the past 28 months, there has been no interruptions in the payment of returns, hence there have been "no complaints" from clients.

"But they have blocked access to our websites. So, most of our investors would imagine that we are scammers and disappeared from web and got all their money with us," said point number two on the alert.

Swiss Cash advertises itself as a mutual fund company operating since 1948 and claims its funds under management will reach US$1 billion this year.

lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com