CoFfEE witH PUNithAN

MAIKA HOLDINGS bhd…… originally established to represent the interests of the Malaysian Indian community and has since grown to configure more than 66,000 shareholders. (www.maika.com.my)

And, its (was/were) a failure …. a black mark in MIC’s history…. Malaysian Indians demands ….. a transparent walk…that can solve the 25 years old puzzle ……

Yesterday, Datuk V.K.K Teagarajan (who recently announced his intention to contest for the MIC deputy president) , urged the government to take over MAIKA.

As the company made losses, a Maika share which was sold at RM1 when it started in 1986 is now selling for 0.30 sen and many Indians have suffered heavy losses.

Therefore, he said, a takeover would be a positive way for the Government to help the shareholders.

“The Government has several vehicles to take over Maika and the UOB insurance arm it owns and convert them into a unit trust company,” Teagarajan said.

Alternatively, he said, the Government could set up a company after taking over Maika and award some projects to improve the well-being of Indians.

Teagarajan said that he came up with the idea after discussing the proposal with many Maika directors and other Indian leaders.

He added that if the Government did not do anything, the MIC had a moral obligation to redeem the shares at a fair price.

In response to that, MAIKA’s CEO Mr. S. Vell Paari defended his trackrecord

"When I took over as the CEO in 1999, Maika was technically insolvent. Now with the help of the board, we have RM150 million in gross assets," he said.

He added that the government has been helpful in solving some of Maika's financial woes through the national asset management company Danaharta.

MAIKA’s CEO answers….

He said the company last year had proposed a resolution to sell all its assets and distribute the surplus to shareholders.

"Maika would have been in a position to buy back its shares at a minimum of RM1.00 each including its bonus shares, but that plan has to be put on hold due to injunction by a shareholder to stop the company from acting on the resolutions," he said.

Vell Paari said Maika had discussed with the shareholder to try to come to an amicable solution.

In the meantime, he said, Maika has submitted an application to the High Court to allow it to set a date to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) and the court has set Dec 2 to hear the application.

"If successful, Maika will then immediately call for an EGM to approve the resolution for share buyback at a minimum of RM1.00," he said.

MAIKA’S future??? …. It was proposed by Mr. Vell Paari that the company should beliquidated and the assets to be transformed to a new company . In his report for Tamil Nesan, he suggested corporate tycoons like Dr. Thillainathan, Dato Kasi and Mr. Gopalakrishnan to manage it.