In the response to a parliamentary question over the Investor Alert List, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also the chairman of MAS, revealed that the MAS is liaising with the relevant authorities to tighten rules on advertisements by investment firms.

Mr Tharmna also said that the exact number of investors affected by the investigations into gold buyback companies “is not known as the investigations are still ongoing“.

A firm listed on the Investor Alert List “does not necessarily mean that it has breached any of MAS’ regulations. Nor does it mean that MAS has the power to monitor its activities or to investigate its operations. Where there is evidence of fraud or any other breaches of law, action will be taken by the appropriate enforcement agency“.

Such grey and ambiguous stand would only confuse consumers. For example, a firm running fraudulent scheme but have not ...