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The Green Acres franchise group has prepared a "rescue" package to offer victims of an alleged $3 million fraud.
Green Acres franchise group chief executive, Andrew Chisholm, said the company's reputation had "endured considerable damage" and yesterday sent a letter to the 200 or so businesses who bought fake franchises from former master franchisee Keith Lapham.
He said the rescue package was prepared on the basis the people who bought franchises from Mr Lapham did so in good faith.
A source said the package, upon its completion, would likely be in the millions of dollars.
The package will be offered to all those who can prove that they have paid monies to Mr Lapham to purchase one of the ironing franchises, irrespective of whether their contract was filed with and validated by the Group's head office.
Meanwhile, the Serious Fraud Office has warned anxious investors that it will take a lengthy amount of time to investigate claims of the multimillion-dollar scam involving the sale of the franchises.
A group of affected investors yesterday met Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel in Mt Roskill to ask for action on their allegation that as many as 200 fake franchises were sold by Mr Lapham for about $3 million.
The people, mostly Indian and Chinese migrants, told Ms Dalziel that many of them were now feeling pressure from money lenders who had funded the purchases of the home-based ironing franchises. With no income from the franchises, they couldn't pay the debt.
Ms Dalziel - who is on leave - agreed to meet the people at the end of a holiday in the North Island and she told the group she would look into whether laws around franchising needed to be tightened.
Ms Dalziel said the involvement of the Serious Fraud Office meant it would not be appropriate for her to talk further about legal issues, "other than to say that the complaints are being taken seriously".
But it could be some time before the investors find out whether any charges will be laid.
Grant Liddell, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said the investigation would "probably be quite lengthy" because a large number of people claimed to have been defrauded.
The office had liaised with police before deciding to start an investigation into whether franchisees were defrauded through the actions of Mr Lapham.
Mr Lapham cannot be located.
Mr Liddell said he would be happy to meet the franchisees, who have organised themselves into a group to find a solution.
The people in the group, called Franchise Watch, want to recover their money and have demanded that the Government help with a remedy.
Ms Dalziel said she would make sure other government agencies could assist, and she would write to the New Zealand Franchise Association on behalf of the group.
She said the association had rules and codes of conduct and "it would be useful" to find out its perspective on what happened.
"It would appear that most of the victims in this case are migrants, some with limited English and some who have used up all their savings to buy into the franchise."
