Sergey Mavrodi, MMM founder, has allegedly written an open letter to Nigerian Government explaining the benefits of the scheme.. and he asked some “serious questions” that needed answers.
The letter which was sent as a tip-off was reportedly displayed on the page of all its’ users.
Recall the the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had warned Nigerians against participating in the scheme which it described as a “Ponzi”.
The House of Representatives in October also ordered an investigation into the operation of the scheme.
According to the letter, Mavrodi implored the government to look at the benefits of the scheme rather than be against it without knowing how it was helping Nigerians.
He insisted that if the government was really interested in the welfare of the Nigerian participant, then the scheme should be left alone arguing that MMM was helping the over 3 million Nigerian participants.
Read below the full script of the letter:
Open Letter from Sergey Mavrodi to the Nigerian Authorities
Honorable authorities,
So far MMM has come under a constant attack from you. In this regard, I would like to ask you a few simple questions. Since you are concerned with the interests of millions of your fellow citizens, I hope that you would be so kind to answer them.
What are you trying to get? Do you want the MMM System to collapse and millions of people to suffer? Who will support them then if now MMM is their only means of livelihood? Will you? You even don’t pay wages to people? Or might you not care about them? Might you be using a trendy topic to make a good name for yourselves? What will you say to a mother who will have no money to buy food for her child? Will you let her child die for the sake of the higher interests of the economy?
You say that MMM is a scam. What is the scam here, if all members are warned in advance about all the risks, the possible and impossible ones? They know there are no investments at all. The warning is a red text on a yellow background placed on most prominent place of the website.
You say that MMM is bad. Why? Yes, it produces nothing, but nothing gets out of the country either. The money is just redistributed among the citizens of Nigeria. It gets from those who are richer to poorer ones, in this way restoring social justice. What”s wrong with that?
You have repeatedly stated that “it should be investigated!.. researched!..” It means you know nothing about this System yet; you even haven’t understood how it works………
And finally. If you know what is right for people, why is the life so bad in the country?
Sincerely yours,
Sergey Mavrodi
P.S. As for your statement that “everything will collapse soon”. The system has been working in Nigeria for a year, and according to your estimates, the total number of members now is about 3 million people. In Nigeria the population is approximately 195 million. Can you calculate? Will it be “soon”? :-))
READ ALSO: The Senate Committee on“MMM Is A Pyramid That Will Soon Burst” – Senate Warns
Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions has warned Nigerians that the ponzi investment scheme, MMM, is a pyramid that would soon burst.
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard, Chairman of the committee, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim and other members of the committee alerted Nigerians to the dangers of investing in MMM.
He said:
“Any Financial institutions of any kind that is not under the regulation of a Regulator such as MMM is a pyramid that will soon burst. We engaged the CBN and they have issued a statement in the recent past. So Nigeria should be wise and know that there is no free money anywhere. One wonders which investment can yield 30% flat any where in the world,”
For Senator Gbolahan Dada, APC, Ogun West, “It is important for members of the Public to know this fact. MMM was a Russian company founded in 1989. The company was established by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother named Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and Olga Melnikova. The name of the company was taken from the first letters of the three founders’ surnames. MMM could be called a wonder bank. Over 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10billion in the 90s when it was introduced. The company was shut down by Russian Police in 1994 and declared bankruptcy in 1997.
“It is unfortunate that some unscrupulous Nigerians are capitalizing on the current economic hardships to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians by encouraging them to part with their hard earned money with mouth-watering interest or returns.
“MMM does not contribute or add value to the economy because the records of such transactions are not kept and not made open to the public or regulatory authorities. It is a product of fraud and nothing good comes from fraud.
“The operator pays returns to the investors from new capital acquired from new investors and not from legitimately earned profits. The operators entice investors with mouth watering offers. The short term returns are abnormally high and unusually consistent. They may struggle to pay the first returns but would bolt away with subsequent capital or deposits made by investors.”
Speaking about the financial implications of investing in MMM, Dada said,
“The money involved in MMM are usually spent by the promoters on frivolities. The promoters engage in ostentatious lifestyles. They hardly have concern for the unsuspecting investors. It is fool hardy for any members of the public to fall prey to the scheme despite warnings from stakeholders. Those patronizing MMM will have a tale of woes to tell after losing their deposits.”
On what can the Senate do to protect the interest of Nigerians, the lawmaker said, “The House of Representatives has taken a step to condemn the Scheme and also promised to investigate the scheme. Secondly, the CBN and majority of the Banks have warned members of the public from participating in the scheme.
“The EFCC also issued warnings to arrest perpetrators of that scheme. My take is simple. Any Nigerian who decides to participate in the scheme is on his own and should blame himself in the event of any loss. The only thing the Senate can do is to advise Nigerians to shun the temptation of getting rich quick so as not to lose their meager resources.”investment, it is a choice of anyone. The question is, is MMM real, is it actually threatening the financial institutions in Nigeria; is it posing a security threat and is it capital flight? Those questions need to be looked into. I believe that it is the consequence of recession, it is not MMM, but about the desperation of Nigerians looking for survival and nobody needs to be blamed.
“If we see the kind of people that patronize MMM, they are civilized, educated people who actually know the consequences of failed investment, but they still take the risk and go into it. The only advise I can give them is to be careful, they have the right to go into it, it is their right, but they must be careful.”
Source: Vanguard.