Retired Chief Justice Ramesh Lahoti convened the first closed-door meeting of the Lahoti Committee on November 28th. Advocates from the Reserve Bank of India, Speak Asia, and representatives for the company's panelists attended the four-hour session. The committee aimed to resolve the ongoing dispute regarding membership fee refunds.

Nearly two days later, Speak Asia had not disclosed any details from the meeting. None of the participating advocates publicly announced the discussions or the committee's future direction.

The Lahoti Committee was established solely to assist Speak Asia's members. This lack of transparency appears unusual given the committee's mandate.

Panelists had eagerly awaited news, viewing the committee as progress toward recovering fees. However, suspicion remains that the funds are irrecoverable. Reports indicate CEO Harendar Kaur transferred over $100 million from India to "at least 100 overseas bank accounts of the promoters" in Singapore.

Speak Asia previously used the promise of payments to panelists as a tactic to promote unity and curb questions from its members. Its last official communication was three weeks prior, on November 10th.

CEO Harendar Kaur and Manoj Kumar, along with Tarak Bajpai and other company management, have not appeared publicly for months. They remain in hiding, either overseas or within India.

The committee's efforts occur amidst multiple ongoing criminal investigations into Speak Asia. These include probes by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Criminal Investigative Department (CID), Income Tax Department (IT), and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

The EOW investigation recently led to the arrest of Melvin Crasto, President of the All India Association. Crasto was detained for an unexplained $3000 deposit from Speak Asia into one of his bank accounts. Other departments reportedly await a report from the SFIO.

The SFIO report is anticipated in December.