A complaint was filed against the Securities Commission (SC) recently by a shareholder who claimed that the statutory body had failed to protect the interest of minority shareholders and that its inaction had caused them severe losses.

The complainant, Abdul Razak Mohamed Jalil, told reporters today that the failure of the SC to impose a mandatory general offer on a company had resulted in the minority shareholders being shortchanged, suffering a loss of more than RM20 per share.

Abdul Razak, in his May 8 written complaint addressed to the SC chairman Ali Abdul Kadir, expressed his disappointment with the commission's inaction and called for an investigation.

According to Abdul Razak, "SC failed to take action against Linksun Avenue Sdn Bhd which bought a substantial sum of Autoways Holdings Bhd shares in 1996 and did not report the matter to the commission."

Razak who holds 750,000 shares in Autoways, claimed that since Linksun had acquired approximately 37 percent of Autoways shares, it was compelled under the Securities Commission Act 1993 "to make a mandatory general offer to the remaining shareholders".

"Before that, Linksun Avenue was never recorded as a substantial shareholder of Autoways. The market price at that time was RM25 per share but has now dwindled to RM0.50.

"Because SC failed to impose the mandatory general offer, the shareholders were not given the opportunity to sell their shares at RM25. Today the share stands at RM0.50 and was even suspended," said Razak adding that he suffered a net loss of RM24.50 per share.

High-profile matter

He questioned if SC's inaction reflected the practice of favouritism, double standards or plain inefficiency.

"I do not know why the SC as well as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) did not do anything, but the public investors as well as the minority shareholders have suffered because of this," he said.

He urged the SC to investigate the matter and to enforce a law "without fear or favour"so that the interests of the minority shareholders are protected.

Abdul Razak said he discovered that Linksun was a substantial shareholder in Autoways following media reports of a suit against Linksun by another company.

"This suit was highly publicised because it involves a minister and his son. I understand from this suit that a large number of Autoways shares were involved," he added.

On June 13 last year, lawyers acting on behalf of businessman Soh Chee Wen served notices to Transport Minister Dr Ling Liong Sik, his son, Hee Leong and the latter's wife, Carol Ong demanding they pay back RM150 million within two weeks.

The notice claimed that Soh sold six million Autoways shares which he owned, and the money raised went to Linksun, owned by Hee Leong and his wife.

Ling later denied that the claims were untrue stating that the debt demand was "false and incorrect".

Meanwhile, an SC spokesperson when contacted by malaysiakini later said the "commission will look into the complaint" but declined to comment further.