KUALA LUMPUR: A High Court here on Thursday has declared that the 14th Persatuan Seniman Malaysia (Seniman) annual general meeting (AGM) is null and void and ordered the Registrar of Society (ROS) to hold back the AGM on behalf of Seniman.
Judicial Commissioner Rosilah Yop made the decision after she found that the plaintiffs, which comprised of five veteran artistes, had succeeded in establishing their claim against Seniman and seven other defendants.
JC Rosilah ordered defendants Haron Aminar Rashid Salim @ Harun Salim Bachik, 54, Omar Kamarudin @ Yusof Kelana, 59, and Wafa A. Kadir, 47, who were named as second, third and fourth defendants, to pay the RM56,000 in special damages to the association.
The money (RM56,000) was purportedly used to purchase a property in Setiawangsa.
She also instructed all the eight defendants to pay the plaintiffs RM60,000 in costs.
The five plaintiffs were Abu Bakar Omar, 64, Sahlan Sudiran, 71, Roslinda Buang, 48, Mior Ahmad Zaudi Mior Ali, 61, and Datuk Abdullah Sani, 71.
Other than Seniman, its president Haron Aminar Rashid, secretary Yusof Kelana and treasurer Wafa, other defendants named in the suit were Rozaidi Abdul Jamil, 33, Elyas Ismail, 38, Syed Ahmad Nahar Syed Mokhtar, 36, and Zaharudin Wahab, 50.
The judge said in his testimony, Yusof Kelana admitted that the 14th AGM report book, which was said to have the 13th AGM minutes, stated that the Financial Report 2011 was not distributed to members as stipulated under Clause 12(vi) of the Association Law.
She found that the 14th AGM conducted on May 26, last year was invalid.
"Based on the grounds, I also find that the 13th AGM minutes and the 2011 Financial Report was not tabled and approved in the 14th AGM.
"Thus, I declare that the selection of the association committee members for 2012/2015 session, the financial report and the 13th AGM minutes tabled in the 14th AGM are null and void," she said.
She said the defendants' action by holding different AGM minutes which were filed with the ROS, and the report book was intended to cheat its members and had wicked intend.
In the original claim filed on Jan 25, 10 artists filed the suit against the defendants but five later withdrew.
Among others, the artistes are asking for a 14th AGM to be held again within two months from the court order.
They said the 14th AGM, which was held on May 26 last year at Dataran Karyawan Finas in Ampang, was held by the defendants in a wrong manner with the attendance of registered members and hundreds of "doubtful members".
