A local court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to network marketing firm Amway India Chairman and CEO William S Pinckney and two company directors who were remanded to 14 days judicial custody.
Kalpetta Judicial first Class Magistrate N’. Ravishankar, who remanded the three to judicial custody on Monday, granted them bail with conditions including that the accused should report to the investigating official as and when directed.
Mr. Pinckney and directors Sanjay Malhotra and Anshu Budhraja were arrested by the Wayanad Crime Branch (Economic Offences) wing from Kozhikode on Monday in connection with three fraud cases registered in Wayanad district.
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They were booked under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act based on complaints filed by distributors in 2011.
The arrest was based on complaints filed in the Meppady police station by distributors Ashraf and Jaffer from Rippon and another distributor Hariharan from Vaduvanchal, Ambalavayal, Wayanad.
The complainants accused the company of failure in ensuring the promised benefits to those who joined the network marketing business. They alleged that the company had forced them to buy Amway products which included cosmetics and protein powder for huge sums of money.
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Last year, the Crime Branch (Economic Offences wing) had conducted searches at Amway offices across Kerala, including Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur districts as part of its crackdown on money chain activities.
The company’s godowns in these centres were also closed and goods seized.