Shareholders appeal to make Bank Rakyat independent of govt

Three shareholders have gone to the Court of Appeal to obtain leave to commence judicial review to release Bank Rakyat from government control.

The appeal came up before a three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by judge Has Zanah Mehat this morning for a hearing.

Back on June 26 2020, the three Bank Rakyat shareholders - Abdul Aziz Zainal, Mustafha Abd Razak and Rahim Yunus - filed the judicial review leave application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Later on Feb 10 last year, the court denied leave to the three applicants after it allowed objections from the government’s representative at the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

Among the objections raised was that the judicial review leave application was filed out of time. The following month in March last year, the shareholder-trio filed their appeal.

When the matter came up today before the Court of Appeal bench - also presided over by judges Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and See Mee Chun - the initially scheduled hearing was postponed to another date.

The bench allowed the postponement application by the shareholders’ lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, which was also not objected to by the government’s legal representative, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi.

Shafee told the court that they seek adjournment in order to ascertain whether there is a conflict of interest on the lawyer’s part when acting for one of the shareholders.

“I do not think there is, but I need to clear it with my client,” the lawyer said.

The bench then postponed the hearing and fixed case management of the matter for tomorrow.

Judicial review dismissed by High Court

When contacted after proceedings, Hanir and lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, who is co-counsel for the shareholders, confirmed that the High Court dismissed the judicial review as well as its cited reason.

In a media statement after the filing back in 2020, the shareholders then counsel Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said the legal action was initiated following a decision by then entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof to reject a request from Bank Rakyat members to abolish the Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (Special Provisions) Act 1978.

Haniff said the shareholders were also dissatisfied with a decision by the Bank Rakyat board of directors to reject a request from Bank Rakyat members to hold a special general meeting to table a motion to abolish the act.

The counsel said that his clients believed it was time for the act to be abolished so that the bank could be independent of the government.

“The applicants believe that it is time for the management of Bank Rakyat to be returned to its members so they can manage it without government intervention, as per the wishes of former prime minister Hussein Onn when he tabled the act,” he added.

The four respondents targeted by the judicial review are Redzuan, the bank’s board of directors, the Finance Ministry and the government.

The three former Bank Rakyat top executives who filed the legal action have also set up a pro-tem committee allegedly representing some 900,000 Bank Rakyat members to abolish the act.

Aziz was formerly its chairperson, Mustafha a former managing director and Rahim a former general manager.

According to Haniff, the applicants are seeking a declaration that Section 31 of the act gives the minister-in-charge the power to abolish the act.

They are also seeking two certiorari orders - one to cancel decisions made by Redzuan on April 12 and Aug 23 last year to reject applications to abolish the act.

The second order is to cancel a decision made on May 4, 2020, by the bank’s board of directors to reject an application to hold a special general meeting to table a motion to abolish the act.

Furthermore, they are seeking a mandamus order instructing the entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister to carry out duties under Section 31 to abolish the act.

Bank Rakyat is presently under the renamed Entrepreneur Development Ministry.

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