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Against the backdrop of persistent warnings from government organs to Nigerians against participating in the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, the founder of the scheme said the alleged Ponzi was not a scam.
In an open letter on displayed on the page of all participants of the scheme, Sergey Mavrodi said instead of the government killing the scheme, it should strengthen it to help Nigerians thrive and redistribute wealth.
House of Representatives, Central Bank of Nigeria and Security and exchange Commission, at different times, warned Nigerians, against investing in the scheme, saying doing so is risky.
According to information on MMM Nigeria website, about over 2 million Nigerians are currently participating in the scheme.
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But Mavrodi insisted that MMM was not shady and that all participants were informed of the risks involved at the point of registration.
“You say that MMM is bad. Why? Yes, it produces nothing, but nothing gets out of the country either,” Mavrodi said. “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?”
He continued: “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.”
On November 9, the House of Representatives resolved to probe the scheme after the adoption of the adoption of a motion moved by Saheed Akinade Fijabi (APC-Oyo).
“But the scheme’s structure, operations and intendment indicate otherwise as their clients can have multi-level structures under them and receive a bonus (in percentage) from each financial transaction of every participant in their structures,” he said.
He added that the scheme entered the country this year, by capitalising on the high level of unemployment and poverty to deceive unwary Nigerians into falling prey to their antics.
He claimed that the antecedents of the founders could not guarantee the security of investment.
“It is worthy of note that the government of China banned the operations of MMM on the ground that it was a payment pyramid scheme without registration in the country and has the capacity to cause financial havoc in the system,” Fijabi stressed.
Critics of the scheme, according to Mavrodi, were not knowledgeable on how it works.
He said, “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.”
