Maika Holdings has rejected a request by a group of shareholders for a three-fold refund to their start-up investment into the troubled company.

The 184 shareholders had submitted their proposal in a letter of demand dated Dec 10 issued by their legal adviser A Sivanesan, who is also the secretary for DAP's Save Maika Shareholders Committee.

In a written reply to Sivanesan, a copy which was obtained by malaysiakini , lawyers representing Maika Holdings - Shafee & Co - turned down the request.

"Please be advised that your clients' demand cannot be met under the law. Your clients are of course at liberty to commence any legal action as they wish.

"Such action, as and when commenced, will be resisted accordingly by our client," responded lawyer Azhar Azizan Harun.

Last month, the DAP committee offered free legal assistance to any shareholder wishing to take action against Maika Holdings in order to secure a return to their non-performing investments.

RM106m worth of shares

The shareholders who registered with the committee are among more than 66,000 investors who, in 1984, purchased RM106 million worth of shares in the company which was supposed to increase equity ownership of Indian Malaysians through investments and special allocations by the government.

However, Maika has since been implicated in several controversies, including the 1992 scandal involving a 'missing' RM9 million in Telekom shares allocated by the government for the benefit of the shareholders.

The complainants registered with the DAP committee included major investors such as the Jaffnese Co-operative Housing Society and the Jaffnese Co-operative Society Ltd. The two co-operatives invested RM312,500 and RM45,000 respectively into Maika.

Meanwhile, Sivanesan said that at least one shareholder has received a call from a man claiming to be from Maika offering to purchase the shares back at paper value.

"This person by the name of Bala, said he wanted to buy the shares at the original value but this is not what we want. We want to get back three times the capital because (MIC President) Samy Vellu said the company is now worth more than RM300 million," he said when met today during a Maika seminar organised by the DAP committee.

Sivanesan also criticised MIC leaders for attempting to exclude other political parties, including the DAP, from taking up the Maika issue.

He was referring to a statement issued by MIC Youth chief S Vickneswaran that the DAP should not organise any seminar on the Maika issue.

"A report in the Sunday Times said that MIC members hold only 8 percent of total Maika shares. So they should not dictate what the community or other political parties wish to do. Most of the shareholders are not members of any political party."

In addition, Sivanesan also pointed out a recent exchange of letters between two senior Indian community leaders which further emphasised the extent of the Maika scandal.

The two letters, which were published in the Malay Mail , were written by former Dewan Negara speaker G Vadiveloo (Dec 2) and former Maika managing-director G K Rama Iyer (Dec 9).

"Vadiveloo gave an explanation for the Telekom shares scandal and this was accepted by MIC Youth. But Rama Iyer said in his reply that Vadiveloo didn't have sufficient knowledge about the issue," he said.

Quoting from Rama Iyer's letter, Sivanesan said the former Maika executive had called for the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to reopen its investigations.

In full force

Also speaking at the Maika seminar this morning was DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang who urged shareholders to turn up in large numbers at the Maika Holdings annual general meeting scheduled on Dec 30 to make known their grievances.

"Shareholders should vote to sack the whole board of directors of Maika and pick a new one that represents shareholder interests. You should also call for a comprehensive and in-depth inquiry into Maika's dealings," he said to an audience of some 80 individuals.

Lim also urged the police to monitor the AGM for any harassment that shareholders might suffer if they attempted to raise questions on the Maika shares.

"The Maika AGM is the most feared AGM in the whole country. People are scared to voice their views and assert their rights," he said.

Lim referred to a 1992 controversy when a number of shareholders (including Sivanesan and his wife) seeking to question the board on the progress of their investments were assaulted.

In the same year, Lim was also suspended from Parliament for eight months for raising the Maika issue.