Forbes

JULY 2016 FORBES ASIA | 67

owning a Gulfstream and other jets,” he says, adding that
he dropped a plan to purchase an Embraer Legacy 650
because of his company’s commitment to go green.
Pudur arrived in Malaysia in 2002 after a friend
pointed him to opportunities there. Then-prime minis-
ter Mahathir Mohamad was spending billions to boost
the country into the global high-tech, knowledge-based
economy. The government was building the Multimedia
Super Corridor special economic zone and offering easy
visas, tax breaks and hassle-free equipment imports. Cel-
frame says it opened an office in Cyberjaya, which was
inside the zone and looked to Silicon Valley as its model,
and began taking on IT work outsourced by government-
approved vendors. But, says Pudur, he realized that being
a sub-vendor would not take him far, and he began con-
templating building a software product: “Every product
from cars to bottled water had many, many competitors
but I realized that Microsoft had no rival.” So, he says,
he put everything into building a rival software package.
He says he released Celframe Office in 2006. “Everybody
laughed and said I would lose my pants and my shirt,”
he says.
It’s unclear whether Microsoft is aware of Celframe,
saying in an e-mail only that “we recognize that the
productivity space is full of incredibly smart people and
companies with their own ideas about how to make us all
more productive, whether it’s from established players
or newer voices.” Says Pudur, in defending his line-up
of cheap knockoffs: “There is no shame in replicating
better-known and best-selling products.”
Celframe entered the U.S. market two years ago, it
says, and signed an entertainer and entrepreneur, Ed-
ward Ellis, first as a vice president of Browsify and then
to have his company, E2 IT Products, distribute its soft-
ware. Celframe has so far had an “extraordinary success
rate,” Ellis said in an e-mail. “Arun always says, ‘We are
now in the lion’s den so every step is critical, one mistake
and we will be eaten.’” Celframe has less than 1% of the
market but is pushing its office suite and antivirus pack-
ages and shooting for 5% by next year, said Ellis, who
like Pudur calls himself a billionaire and on his Facebook
page has a picture of a fake FORBES magazine cover with
a photo of him. He still sings and acts, under the stage
name Pleasure Ellis, and counts American recording art-
ist MC Hammer as a mentor.
It’s unclear whether Celframe has had much of a
business these last several years, either in the U.S. or
elsewhere. It apparently released the latest version of its
office suite in 2008. Perhaps the financial crisis was tak-
ing a toll or, as Pudur says, the software-products busi-
ness was becoming too crowded, but by 2010, he says, he
began diversifying into mining and commodities: “My
father always said anything that is from the earth is of

lasting value, it cannot be duplicated.”

First there was a brief and unsuccessful ride as an in-

vestor in an Australian gold mine. In May 2012, through

a listed Nevada exploration company called Daulton

Capital, Pudur bought a 41% stake in Australia’s ARX

Springs gold project. The deal was valued at $4.3 billion,

according to a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange

Commission, even though the stock was trading at less

than 4 cents a share. The press release issued at the time

claimed the project would generate $22 billion in gold

sales over its 20-year lifetime. The next month Pudur

changed Daulton’s name to Celframe ARX Resources.

But on Aug. 28 he resigned from the board and sold his

stake—he blames a difference of opinion with his part-

ners—and Celframe was dropped from the name. He did

not make any money, according to Pudur Corp.

Pudur is now looking for investors in three mines he

says he’s acquired in South Africa, according to his web-

site, arunpudur.com. One is Leema Platinum, which the

site says has proven reserves of gold and platinum-group

metals of $13 billion. Another is Letsatsi Gold Resources,

which he says he bought in January and values at $3.5

billion. Then there’s Sisonke Platinum, with supposed

reserves of $23 billion. But an online search turned up

little about these three mines. Pudur’s website lists these

“opportunities” and adds: “Interested to Invest? Contact

our Investor Relations Team ... for details.”

With agricultural commodities Pudur says he’s traded

palm oil to Ghana and sugar and wheat to other parts of

Africa. “I work with respectable names so the risk is low,”

he says. He listed Rothschild (South Africa) as an advisor

on his investments, but Martin Kingston, the firm’s CEO

and managing director, sent this e-mailed response: “I

am afraid I do not know the Pudur Group well enough to

express an opinion.”

Another contact, Mani Vannan, an investment direc-

tor with a London-based outfit called Frontier Power,

said his company has been providing advice on invest-

ing in energy and natural resources to Pudur Corp.—

“hundreds of millions of dollars of opportunities.” But

Vannan declined to provide any specifics, citing client

confidentiality, even though Pudur had given FORBES

ASIA his name.

“ARUN ALWAYS SAYS,

‘WE ARE IN THE LION’S DEN

SO EVERY STEP IS CRITICAL,

ONE MISTAKE AND WE WILL

BE EATEN.’ ”