The Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) raid of Suaram's office was politically-motivated selective persecution as other Umno-linked companies that have breached laws were not subject any action, says DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

"The actions of the government agencies, under pressure from Umno and right-wing racist organisations such as Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) and Perkasa, particularly of the CCM, are extremely prejudicial in nature," Pua said in a statement today.

NONE Pua ( right) said he had over the past year exposed many firms that had flouted many laws incorporated in the Companies Act 1965, including those linked to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), owned by former minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's family.

"For example, NFC has granted personal loans to the directors of the company. This breached Section 133 and 133A of the Companies Act, where such loans are clearly prohibited.

"The family's other companies, National Meat and Livestock Company Sdn Bhd, Real Food Company Sdn Bhd and Meatworks Sdn Bhd have failed to hold their annual general meetings, file their annual returns to the registrar of companies together with their audited financial reports.

"These offences are clear breachs of Section 169A of the Companies Act, which carry the penalty of five years in prison and/or a fine of RM30,000," he said.

Pua said another company Yayasan Gerakbakti Kebangsaan (YGK), owned by Umno Youth and with its chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Umno's Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan as directors, has never filed its accounts since 2009.

"Why is it that up to today, despite the above exposes being made at least six months ago, the CCM has failed to act against these companies despite the proven breaches?

Scorpene sub  flogged again

"On the other hand, why is it that despite having done no wrong, the CCM and the other government agencies have been relentless in their pursuit to charge Suaram?" asked Pua.

military malaysia navy french built submarine scorpene class Hence, he concluded, the current persecution against the human rights NGO was a result of Suaram's exposes of the multi-billion ringgit Scorpene submarine scandal which implicates Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"We call upon the CCM to stay away from politically-motivated actions that will only tarnish its image as an impartial entity.

"If it has to act against Suaram, then surely action must be taken against the many companies of Umno leaders, family members and cronies that have clearly breached many aspects of the law," Pua said.

The DAP national publicity secretary also hoped that Suaram would maintain its course and double its efforts, especially to ensure that corrupt leaders who abused their powers would be rejected outright.

  Pledge of no value

Yesterday, officers from the CCM went to Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd's company secretary and auditor's office and conducted a search and seized documents related to the company.

Suaram, despite being a leading human rights NGO in the country, is registered as a company under the name of Suara Inisiatif.

The raid was conducted despite it having written to CCM on July 20, pledging full cooperation with CCM and to provide further documents and information upon receiving written requests to do so.

The notices to search and seize were issued under Section 7C and 7D(1) of the Companies Act 1965.

NONE Pua pointed out that the above sections of the law essentially empowered CCM to conduct searches and seizures - which were 'fishing expeditions', indicating that no particular offence had been committed by Suaram.

Even Perkeso, the agency that manages Socso payments, said Pua, had ordered Suaram to submit a list of documents to the office on Aug 30.

In compliance with the notice, Suaram had handed over the requested documents to the relevant officer, who in turn was completely clueless as to the existence Suaram as an entity, he added.

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