Like a thief in the night (from an old song)

This morning, on awakening, I received a sms from the bank, and there was an amount stated. This is the time of the month that our monthly payments are made, and each one is accompanied by an sms from the bank. When I saw the amount I though: "oh, well another payment", and as I was about to delete it my eye saw "Edwafin". It was a deposit! My word, holding my breath actually work a bit!

Yes, folks, we have received another 25% of our monthly interest payments, and I suppose it is only good manners to say: thank you, Edwafin.

Am I happy, though? Far from it. Edwafin has been exceptionally quiet during the last weeks, and again that indicates problems: if you don't have good news, then be silent, it seems. What makes me more uneasy is wondering where the money came from that they used to pay the 25% portion of the interest. As an artist, I have a vivid imagination and it is working overtime. At the same time I'm stilling waiting on Patrick to commit himself on the refund that is to materialize on or before 31 May. But, the two sentences that Patrick wrote to me have now dried up completely. Unfortunately, I can't hold my breath that long. Any news will immediately be relayed to these pages

In the meantime, the flow of emails into my inbox, is endless, and I have difficulties responding to each personally. Please be patient. If you have specific comments or questions, please direct those to the blog, so that others may also read them along with any answers that may become available.

The general gist of the messages that have arrived is that people are contacting Edwafin, but are unable to speak to any of the top management. Yes, many promises are made that phone calls would be returned, but by now we know what kind of promises Edwafin make. To me that is just one more indication that the company is beleaguered and seemingly has no (positive) information to share with you. If they had, and given the current circumstances, they surely would have already.

Mr Stapleton has promised us another one of his famous letters towards the middle of the month. Is it time to start holding my breath again?

Today is my day off, and I'm out for coffee.

FSB - this is important for all investors; DTI?

Like most things, all this activity around the Edwafin issues has its positive aspects as well. Ever since I made contact with the FSB (Financial Services Board), I have been speaking to Mr Lawrence Muravha, Analyst: FAIS Enforcement Department of the FSB. We have spoken several times and he his in charge of the investigation of Edwabond specifically (that is the subsidiary of Edwafin that is registered with them).

Some of you might have tried to contact the FSB via their internet front end: that doesn't work at the moment as they are experiencing problems with their server. Most of us know about that, and we will have to be a bit patient. Note: if you want to complain with the FSB, don't use the form on FSB's web site but write to Mr Muravha directly at the address given below. This morning, I delivered copies of documents personally to Mr Muravha, and although they are situated in a most gruesome building, near the old ghost house in Pretoria/Tshwane, he seems to be well aware of the situation and is actively working on the case.

However, he needs the help of investors. He is trying to build a database of all the investors with Edwafin and invites you to contact him to leave your details. Those investors who invested with Edwafin since 1 November 2008, are especially important, as it turns out that Edwabond continued to promote, as it still does now, even after they became aware of their financial predicament. (One lady was offered an investment opportunity at 15%, the day before yesterday, and was told that the cash flow problem would be resolved by the end of the month - well, we have seen that happen, have we not?)

Mr Lawrence Muravha's email is lawrence@fsb.co.za. Alternatively, you could also write to me at mkoppers@chromatique.com, and I will forward your information to. However, complain need to be lodged directly with him.

And then there is the DTI. Now they are a different story all together. Have you tried to contact them lately? It is probably easier to get your money from Edwafin than to get any kind of response from the DTI. They are on this mailing list, but there is not much hope.
As far as can be established, the DTI was informed of the situation some months ago already (perhaps they are the authorities Stapleton referred to), but now they are merely coasting along twiddling any thumbs they are not sitting on. Have you ever tried to get an email address from their impressive website. No joy. Like so many modern organizations they are hidden behind a call centre number, and they are not in the mood to help.
Hey guys, wake up. Your country is calling you!

And thus Friday arrived

Yes, here we are. Friday has come and it is actually a precursor to an exciting weekend.
Elke, my wife, now begins a two week holiday from teaching, and its always nice to have her at home.
The journalist from FIN24 would have come to interview me today, but instead is coming over the weekend, and he sounds like a jolly friendly and intelligent chap - I'm looking forward to it.
Also, this weekend is the end of the month: pay cheques, shopping, drinking coffee, eating breakfast, and of course the interest payment from Edwafin - or not. Who knows what the gods have in their lucky packet for us this time.
Furthermore, Edwafin is sending us all a letter towards the middle of April to report back on those meetings they held in Durban and cape Town (how many weeks ago then). It seems they were not very happy events, and perhaps it was a good thing that I was not invited as it would possibly have unsettled me too much. Shame on you, though, Edwafin, are we in Gauteng not good enough investors for you to keep us informed about such things? Perhaps the invitations were more selective than that.

But before I continue, I should first confirm that I am utterly disgusted with myself. My last email to Mr Stapleton, was just one big mess: full of grammatical errors and just plain badly written. By writing the email, when I did, I broke one of my own pertinent rules: never write a letter to somebody when you are not feeling happy, are upset, red in the face, hypertensive or any combination of the above.

To today's business.
Fortunately, I have the time to write this entry because FIN24's journalist is stuck with a broken car. We will meet over the weekend however.
Perhaps you will remember that I expressed my concern to Mr Stapleton about the dilemma I find myself in, and that I asked him to put his mind to the problem and see if he could come up with some kind of solution. Apparently he couldn't and as it is seemingly the norm at Edwafin, he could not bring himself to communicate his inability to me. This is not abnormal behaviour though, as I previously inquired about the board meeting concerning refunds to investors, and communication about this with the authorities, and that also resulted in a tromboning silence.

This morning when I contemplated this blog I was reminded serendipitously of old Mother Russia. Before that big "nation" disintegrated into 15 nincompoop states, disinformation, non-information, powerful threats of retribution, and actual persecution amongst many other forms of controlling the masses to tow the line. Now we have our own little Mother Edwafin, who rules firmly by means of the investors' collective fear of loss, and by legalistic bullying. One only has to read through the pages of this blog to note how effectively we are threatened with collective loss and legal repercussions. That is besides the other personal abuse one has to suffer when questioning a matter. Oh my ex-wife - how painful that was.

Anyway, back to my dilemma - well actually, based on my own answers to the following questions, I have concluded that there is no real dilemma, only a reality. Of course, if Edwafin has a different reality, they are free to tell us, please do.

• My inquiry concerning the famous board meeting in March - unanswered
• I asked about Edwafin informing the authorities - unanswered
• I requested some kind of commitment from Edwafin concerning my refund end of May - unanswered.
• Does this mean that they don't have answers, and can't commit to anything? - most probably
• Are investors trying to get their money back through legal representation? - yes
• Is Edwafin trying to find a legal loophole to avoid its obligations? - Read Stapleton's
  comments in this blog - apparently he has found one
• Are such investors successful? - apparently not yet. Crafty, gentlemanly professionals, of the upstanding kind - lawyers advocates are used to try and avoid such repayments
• Are these brave lawyers and advocates paid? - what do you think?
• With what money? - well now, three guesses
• Are monthly management salaries being paid? I have no idea
  
• Are you allowed to question the matter? - no, unless you are an expert on whatever matter concerns you (Mother Edwafin's stance)
• Why has this matter has become such an covert issue; "don't go public", "don't contact the authorities"? - perhaps they are in real trouble?
  

And that brings us to a logic 101 exercise:

1. Are the investors being stolen from? - no
2. Did they take our money originally? - yes, with pertinent basic conditions
3. Are those conditions being adhered to or even acknowledged? - well, are they?
4. Do investors receive their interests due? - no
5. Are there huge amounts of past interests due outstanding? - that's what started the whole mess
6. Do they want to give investors their money back? - I have asked, not even a promise
7. Are the investors being stolen from?

As I was writing this, I received an email from a person who used to work at the Paint Business, and who was retrenched at the end of February 2009. A "horror story" is what the person calls it. If one thinks about it, it must be clear that the "temporary" cash-flow problems must have built up for a considerable period of time, before the actual blow came. So the directors must have been aware of the impending crisis. Yet, they knew how to placate the investors with all kinds of stories about computers (costing millions of your interest money). I think the word is naive.

Sorry, Patrick, you are a nice fellow, but I'm done. Heavens, its like pulling teeth from a stubborn horse.

PS. This is today's first blog. The second will follow shortly and will deal with the now equally famous Edwabond, and its "preferred consultants".

We got some!

Yesterday... actually, I think it was the day before - doesn't really matter in the huge universal scheme... anyway I had decided not to blog for at least a week or more. The beast is not all that creative and pleasant, and seems like a huge self indulgent thing to do.

But wait, as promised EDWAFIN, send us some money, and I think that should be announced, since it is a good sign. Thank you, Mr Stapleton and others at EDWAFIN my your toil and trouble be richly rewarded - me first though.

The Decision to Invest with EDWAFIN

Read all about EDWAFIN's sphere of activities and the head honchos running the business by clicking on this logo.
For comment on the legality of using a company's logo in a blog see Blogcoach and Intellectual Property

About two and a half years ago, an investment opportunity was brought under our attention via the Internet. The company that advertises the investment opportunity, EDWAFIN, has a classy image, great prospects, and lofty plans for the future. They provided extensive, glossy reading material and generally impressed my wife and myself with their reports of success. Viewers can go and look at their main site at www.edwafin.com where a number of links to subsidiary companies can also be found. More important for us as prospective investors was that they offered a whopping 15% interest per year - obviously a very attractive proposition.

The investment takes the form of debentures that runs for just over 5 years (63 months), after which the invested funds would then be returned. Investors have the choice of receiving the interest earned on the capital amount, at the end of every month or to receive the whole lot at the end of the investment period, thus receiving about double their invested capital after five odd years. Furthermore, to make their offer more attractive the representatives who visited my wife and me were very likable persons, made an excellent impression and contributed to the increase in our overall confidence we had in the company. The deal breaker was that we were offered an additional 3% interest per year: that is a total of 18% interest per year. There was even a further caveat to the offer: although one could not recall your money before the end of the 63 months, there is a clause in the prospectus (there are about 10 or more currently published) that states that if EDWAFIN defaulted on their interest payment, and did not pay such interests before or on the 15th of the following month, the full invested capital is refundable after 30 days. Enticing isn't it? My wife and I thought so, and promptly invested an amount of money with EDWAFIN, and a few months later we invested a second, equal amount of money.

For two and half years we received our monthly interest payments always on time and mostly a good week or more before the end of the month. That impressed us no end, and eradicated the slight fear that some commentators tried to instill in investors about the unrealistically high interest rates.

Then November 2008 came.

This is where the story really begins and during the following days I shall tell the tale as it were in short but intriguing snatches.