PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services, the Administrator appointed by the SC to manage the restitution process, had on 27 January 2010 placed newspaper advertisements inviting Swisscash investors to submit their claims by 10 February 2010. Any claims received after 10 February would not be considered. 

Todate, the Administrator has received more than 24,000 claims following the submission period which is well beyond its initial expectations. The Administrator is now vetting each claim and the supporting documents, if any. Once this process is completed, both the SC and the Administrator will draw up an eligibility criteria for High Court’s approval. Only then the payments can be effected. 

Although the SC and the Administrator are making every effort to ensure that the first pay-outs are made by the end of next month as initially planned, in view of the over whelming number of claims, the SC anticipates the first payments to take place in April 2010. Investors can get regular updates on the restitution process from the Administrator’s website http://www.administrator-swisscash.com.my/ 

Investors have also sought clarification from the SC and the Administrator as to whether the relevant authorities can unblock access to the Swisscash servers in order for them to retrieve information relating to their investments. 

The SC wishes to clarify that the decision to restrict access to the Swisscash servers was made after Swisscash operators themselves shut down access to the servers, possibly due to the active investigations by the SC. The authorities are therefore unable to provide such access to the servers. 

In the meantime, the SC would like to advise investors to exercise caution when making investments and to make prior checks to ascertain whether they are dealing with licensed operators. Even in dealing with licensed entities, investors are required to make a careful assessment of the risks involved and to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge relating to the investment products which they choose to invest in. 

SECURITIES COMMISSION MALAYSIA