KUALA LUMPUR, 10 JANUARY, 2011: The High Court here today gave Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) chairman Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and its seven trustees 30 days to provide several documents in the RM100 million suit against them by MIED. Commercial Court judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Rahim, who made the decision in his chambers, ordered them to provide the documents including those pertaining to the construction of the Asian Institute of Medicine Science and Technology (AIMST), which allegedly caused huge losses to the education arm of the MIC.
Abdul Aziz allowed former MIC Youth chief A. Vigneswaran's application for the defendants to disclose copies of the letter of appointment of its former chief executive officer P. Chitirakala and her scope of work.
MIED had sought a total of 12 documents after High Court Judicial Commissioner Mah Weng Kwai on June 14, allowed an application to name MIED as the plaintiff in its proposed suit against the trustees of MIED.
Other than former MIC President Samy Vellu, the other defendants are his successor Datuk G. Palanivel, Tan Sri M. Mahalingam, Tan Sri Dr T. Marimuthu, Tan Sri Dr S.K. Ampikaipakam, Tan Sri Dr Karnail Singh Nijhar, Tan Sri K. Kumaran and Tan Sri G. Vadiveloo.
Abdul Aziz set tomorrow for case management to fix trial dates for the main suit. Other documents sought under the custody, possession and control of defendants were documents showing monies received and paid out by MIED from 1990 up to the date Vigneswaran filed the suit on July 5 last year.
The documents are:
i) copies of all documents including invoices in respect of legal fees paid to solicitors;
ii) copies of all documents showing payments to third parties in respect of the book on Samy "Samy Vellu: As We Know Him";
iii) forensic audit reports for the year 2005-2008;
iv) copies of all documents evidencing the payment by Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Manaf to MIED and vice versa;
v) interest free loan to Tan Sri Hari Narayanan and Mumtaz Begum with repayment of said loans;
vi) copies of documents evidencing purchase of all gifts from MIED from 1990;
vii) Semeling land - payment of premium to the Kedah state government;
VIII) Copies of company's resolution passed since 1990.
Counsel A. Vasanthi and G. Ragumaren, who appeared for the MIED and Vigneswaran, said the judge allowed the application after the applicants fulfilled all the requirements that all the documents requested for must exist, must be in possession of defendants and relevant to the suit.
Vasanthi also told reporters that the judge disagreed with the defendants' argument that the plaintiff application was just a "fishing expedition." In the suit, filed on July 5, MIED claimed that all the defendants had breached their fiduciary and statutory duties, and failed to discharge their responsibilities as trustees and auditors, which caused MIED to suffer huge losses.
It is also seeking an injunction to restrain Samy Vellu from continuing to helm the institute, that he be stripped of his membership in MIED and for him to return all monies or profits made from MIED either by himself or through family members and close friends.
MIED is also seeking a court order to make Samy Vellu compensate all the financial losses incurred by the institute during his tenure as its chairman. MIED is also seeking special and general damages over the alleged losses, which it claimed to be totaling RM100 million.
Vigneswaran, who is also a member of MIED, had sought the court's permission to initiate the suit under Section 181A of the Companies Act 1965. This section of the Act requires a company seeking to be a plaintiff in a suit to first get the court's permission to do so.
Source - Bernama
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