DAP's Save Maika Shareholders Committee has nominated five individuals to contest for directors' posts in the embattled company during its annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for next Tuesday.

The nominations were accepted by Maika Holdings Group Financial Controller KVR Balakrishnan.

The four are M Kulasegaran, the former DAP member of Parliament for Teluk Intan, K Nadarajah, secretary of the Jaffnese Co-operative Housing Society, P Kamaras, a former Malaysian Air Force employee, and shareholders S Sivamoorthy and S Jambulingam.

All of them are personal shareholders while Nadarajah is also acting as proxy for the Jaffnese Co-operative Housing Society - one of the largest single shareholders - which holds RM312,000 worth of shares.

Committee secretary A Sivanesan said nominations for the six directors' posts can be made by any shareholder seven days before the scheduled AGM.

"The nomination list requires a proposed and seconder. The constitution also states that the list has to be submitted to the registered office of the company. Today is the last day so we had to submit our nominations before 5pm," he said when met this morning.

Sivanesan said the challenge posed would also be the first of its kind in the 20-year history of Maika Holdings.

"We will be happy even if we succeed in getting only two of our nominees appointed as directors. They will be able to check on the things that go on in the company," he added.

Hands tied

Earlier, Sivanesan and 11 other Maika shareholders had submitted a request to Companies Commission of Malaysia CEO Abdul Alim Abdullah at the latter's office, with a request to send a representative to the Maika AGM.

In a letter addressed to Abdul Alim, the shareholders said the appeal was made in order to:

  • ensure that the AGM is conducted in accordance with rules and regulations of the company;

  • check abuse of rules and regulations by influential individuals, as has allegedly happened in the past;

  • safeguard the interests of the estimated 66,000 shareholders; and

  • take appropriate action if the AGM is not conducted within the jurisdiction and regulations of the company.

    • In addition, the letter pointed out that Maika Holdings had already flouted its obligations to shareholders when it failed to hold annual AGMs previously.

    "We wish to place on record that the requirement of conducting AGMs was not complied with in 2000, as no meeting was held during that calendar year," the letter said.

    However, after meeting Abdul Alim this morning for a brief closed-door meeting, Sivanesan said the CEO had said he could not comply with the committee's request. This is because the CCM does not have the legal right to oversee company AGMs.

    "The CEO said his hands are tied and he cannot send representatives, since AGMs are only for shareholders. But he said that, if there are any complaints after the AGM on Dec 30, he will look seriously into the matter and initiate an investigation," Sivanesan said.

    Series of actions

    The two moves initiated by the committee today are part of a series of actions planned for the lead-up to the Maika AGM.

    Sivanesan said the committee will meet with Maika Holdings director Vell Paari ( right ) tomorrow to further discuss released to the press last week on the company's financial standing. Vell Paari is the son of MIC president S Samy Vellu.

    Sivanesan said the committee is also planning to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tomorrow, asking him to reopen investigations into the a past scandal involving issuance of RM10 million worth of Telekoms shares to Maika.

    "The Maika shareholders have suffered enough. We want the government to come up with a rescue plan similar to the bailout of the 24 Multi-purpose co-operatives in the 1980s," he said.

    The committee also wants the government to reopen the Maika investigation file with the Anti-Corruption Agency as suggested by former Maika director G KRama Iyer in a letter to the Malay Mail two weeks ago.

    Sivanesan said the committee would also be sending in separate requests to the Home Ministry and the police for security monitoring at the Maika AGM.

    "People have been assaulted before over the Maika issue. We will be lodging reports to seek protection for shareholders," he said.

    Maika was established in 1983 purportedly to enable Indian Malaysians to share in the country's economic growth but the company has since been mired in controversy over several scandals involving alleged mismanagement.

    In 1992, news of irregularity in Maika's management of its funds and assets made headlines over a 'missing' RM9 million in Telekom shares allocated by the government for the benefit of Maika shareholders.

    Police and ACA investigations into the case then absolved Samy Vellu of any blame in the affair.

    The Maika scandal was unearthed again recently during a row between Samy Vellu and Indian Progressive Front president MG Pandithan, who has been leading the call for the MIC president to step down after holding the party's top post for more than 24 years.

    Pandithan accused Samy Vellu of failing to protect the interests of the Indian Malaysian community and claimed that the MIC leader had instead made the community worse off through such failed ventures as Maika.