KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Malay Chambers of Commerce (DPMM) deputy president Datuk Seri Syed Hussein Alhabshee and 17 others have filed an application to prevent its president, Rizal Faris Mohideen Abdul Kadir, and secretary-general, Don Nazwim Don Najib, from carrying out the motions that were passed at its annual general meeting on Nov 22 last year.
The motions, included for Syed Hussein Alhabshee and 17 others who filed the suit to be automatically dropped from their respective posts as executive council members of DPMM for organising an extraordinary general meeting.
In the application filed on Dec 12 last year, they also sought an order to prevent the two defendants from appointing four executive council members and to maintain the existing status quo as on Nov 20, 2018.
The application was made on grounds that the AGM was null and void and ultra vires of the DPMM constitution as it was against the decision of the executive council made on Nov 1, 2018, not enough corum, flaws in the agenda because the motions were not distributed to the state DPMM and the motion to drop them from their post and as DPMM members were pre-mature and mala fide.
Lawyer Balan Nair Thamodaran, representing the 18 plaintiffs, told reporters this after the case management, held in the chambers of High Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar, who then fixed Feb 15 for further case management.
On Sept 13 last year, Syed Hussein and 17 others filed an originating summons against DPMM, its president and secretary-general to seek a court order for it to hold an extraordinary general meeting and explained on a RM5 million fund allocated to it by the Prime Minister’s Department.
The plaintiffs claimed that in May 2018, Rizal Faris Mohideen had caused the spending of RM5 million allocated to DPMM by the Prime Minister’s Department, but the amount was not deposited into DPMM’s account, instead into the account of Yayasan DPMM Pulau Pinang Berhad without the approval of DPMM executive council.
They also claimed RM1 million was credited to DPMM from a company known as ‘Redberry’ and Rizal Faris Mohideen had decided to use the money for election campaign, also without the approval of DPMM’s executive council.
On the sale of a property owned by DPMM in Bukit Damansara, the plaintiffs claimed that DPMM should have obtained RM11.6 million and RM5.6 million was supposed to be paid to DPMM, but only RM200,000 had been deposited so far, while RM5.4 million was spent for the 14th general election with the approval of the DPMM executive council.
The plaintiffs claimed that the the first defendant failed to provide reasonable explanation on the matter despite being questioned during the executive council meeting.
They are seeking a court order for an EGM to be called and the meeting to be chaired by Syed Hussein and for members of the state DPMM to be allowed to vote. — Bernama
