BULLETIN: Multiple news organizations in India are reporting that police have conducted raids at nine Amway offices in India amid allegations of cheating and money-chain fraud. Early reports say that a news photographer covering the raid was detained by Amway India staff and that the photographer’s camera and baggage were seized by the staff.
The photographer was released after news organizations protested the reported actions of Amway’s staff, according to IBN Live. At least two police organizations participated in the raid, and an Amway office at East Fort in Thrissur was “sealed” by police, according to the IBN report.
Early reports suggest that a PR disaster that goes beyond the headlines generated by the raid may be shaping up for Amway. Not only was a photographer reportedly prevented by Amway staff from taking pictures of the police action, according to an early report in the Hindustan Times, the staff also claimed that police had “harassed” Amway distributors into “giving complaints against the company.”
Amway India denied any cheating had occurred, according to early reports. The company, according to its website, is a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S.-based Amway Corp. of Ada, Mich.