A group of disgruntled Maika Holdings shareholders today lodged a police report against former Bar Council chairperson Dr Cyrus V Das for allegedly conspiring with MIC president S Samy Vellu in alleged illegal activities and financial wrongdoings.

Maika Holdings is the investment arm of MIC, which has been accused of shortchanging its shareholders. However, Samy Vellu, who is also works minister, has vehemently denied this.

On Wednesday, the MIC president obtained a court injunction to stop Tamil daily Malaysia Nanban from publishing stories regarding the matter. The daily is aligned to Samy Vellu's political rival and splinter party - Indian Progressive Front (IPF) - president MG Pandithan.

Cyrus, who had filed the application on behalf of Samy Vellu, was also a former director in Maika Holdings. He resigned in 1992.

In their report lodged at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters, the shareholders claimed that Cyrus had "purposefully neglected and maliciously acted" in activities that had led Maika Holdings to suffer losses.

'Hijacking' of shares

Met later, lawyer S Shanmugam - who is representing the shareholders - said as a former director of Maika, Cyrus was by fiduciary supposed to have looked into the affairs of the company and the interests of its shareholders.

"Instead, he overlooked their interests and conspired with Samy (Vellu) to appropriate Maika's funds," he said.

He explained that the term 'illegal activities' in the report referred to the alleged wrongdoings in the past in regards to a number of issues, including the Telekom shares scandal.

"In particular, they (the shareholders) are referring to the 'hijacking' of Telekom shares that Samy (Vellu) had diverted to three other of his companies," he added.

In 1992, Maika Holdings was reported to have failed to account for much of the RM10 million worth of Telekom shares offered by the Finance Ministry for the benefit of the Indian Malaysian community.

Only RM1 million worth of shares were retained by the investment arm while the remaining RM9 million shares were diverted to three private companies, two of which are RM2 companies and said to be proxies of the works minister.

The controversy subsided after police and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) investigations cleared Samy Vellu.

However, the scandal erupted again a month ago following a row between the MIC president and his IPF counterpart, who called on the latter to resign after 24 years in power.

At a recent gathering of discontented Maika Holdings shareholders, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang asked how long Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would shelter Samy Vellu from public accountability.

Lim, who was a former Parliamentary Opposition leader, was suspended from the House for eight months when he raised the issue in 1992.

Maika Holdings in a statement recently claimed that the allegations were part of a plan to tarnish the company's image by those who were seeking to buy the shares at a depreciated price.

Note: Lawyer S Shanmugam 's letter to malaysiakini