KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah United Chinese Chambers of Commerce (SUCCC) executive committee has resolved not to pursue the mistakes made in the agriculture and reforestation joint venture (JV) projects carried out by Corak Nakhoda Sdn Bhd and Anika Desiran Sdn Bhd any further.
Instead, SUCCC, as a team, will pursue its rightful interests as stated in the agreements through legal channels.
SUCCC president Datuk Seri Panglima Gan Sau Wah said this when explaining the JV projects to the executive and supervisory committee members in a meeting on Sunday.
Gan, accompanied by SUCCC secretary general Datuk Ling Tiong Chai and legal advisor George Ngui, has met with Veetar Kinabalu Plantations Sdn Bhd chairman Dato’ Lim Kim Yeow @ Lim Ba Chong, the company that provided the finance and management for both JV projects.
During the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Gan has requested Lim to increase SUCCC’s Ordinary Shares in Corak Nakhoda, which would enable the united chamber to receive better returns.
However, SUCCC received an outright refusal on the request and was told that their interests would be based on the JV agreement, Gan said.
At present, SUCCC has only four Ordinary Shares and two million Preference Shares in Corak Nakhoda.
Gan and his delegates received similar response when they met with the lawyer representing Anika Desiran, who also refused their request for better returns.
“Despite the unfavorable conditions in the agreements, SUCCC had signed the contracts and therefore, what the united chamber could do at this point is to engage lawyers to study the agreements and determine whether the other party has fulfilled his part of the agreements.
“Hopefully we can pursue a little of our rightful interests by this method,” Gan said.
On the other hand, Gan said certain quarters should not expect him to solve this complicated JV issue in two years since he took over as SUCCC president in 2012.
Gan said the JV issue had been long-standing for 18 years and was ‘beyond cure’, adding that he should not be blamed for the JV as he was not the president of SUCCC at the time when the agreements were signed.