Five co-operatives sue Angkasa
By M Mageswari, The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Five co-operatives have named National Cooperatives Organisation of Malaysia (Angkasa) as a party in the civil suit over claims of breach of fiduciary duties, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.
The five plaintiffs have stated Angkasa as the ninth defendant in the civil action.
The five are Koperasi Rangkaian Sahabat Dungun Berhad, Koperasi Insan Bantu Insan Kuala Lumpur Berhad, Koperasi Konsortium Kontraktor Bumiputra Perak Berhad, Koperasi Pembangunan Melayu Raub Berhad and Koperasi Pengurusan Tanah Malaysia Berhad.
They filed the originating summons at the High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) registry through Co-operative Union of Malaysia adviser Thuraisingham Shun and his team at 10.30am on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters later, Koperasi Rangkaian Sahabat Dungun Berhad chairman Datuk Seri Noor Zainan Zainul said they took the legal action to protect the interest of the cooperative sector ahead of Angkasa’s annual general meeting on May 14 to elect three top posts of Angkasa – deputy president and two vice-presidents.
In his affidavit filed Tuesday, Noor Zainan said that Angkasa was corporated as the secondary co-operative.
Thuraisingham urged the Prime Minister to intervene as soon as possible to solve the issues surrounding Angkasa which comprised of 6,000 registered co-operatives.
“We are made up of middle and lower income group of people. Angkasa has a membership of 5.3mil. Their welfare has to be looked into,” he told reporters at the Jalan Duta court complex after the filing.
On Feb 11, the five co-operatives sued eight Angkasa board members for alleged breach of fiduciary duties, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.
The eight board members who were named as defendants were Professor Datuk Mohamad Ali Baharum, Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah, Arni Zainuddin, Mutadho Bahri, Jamal Abdullah, Nasir Khan Yahaya, Mohammad Zamri Yaakob and Suresh Kumar.
The co-operatives are seeking a court order for all eight board members to be suspended from Angkasa’s committee on various grounds.
The five plaintiffs, who are all Angkasa members, stated that the board members had failed in their fiduciary duties when they failed to execute an agreement to buy a piece of property.
Among others, the co-operatives are applying to the court to appoint an administrator to manage all Angkasa affairs until an extraordinary conference is held to elect new committee members.
Apart from that, they are seeking for a forensic audit to be conducted on Angkasa’s expenditures for the period of five years from July 1, 2005.
They also want the court to order costs to be borne by the eight defendants.
In the court papers, they stated that they wanted an order that the defendants had contravened Angkasa by-laws by receiving an allowance.
