KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Sabah Turf Club (RSTC) management committee had filed its appeal on April 20 at the Court of Appeal on the decision by the High Court for the management committee to pay RM1.76 million to the club.
Club chairman Datuk Golkan Hasbolah said the committee had also made a police report on May 4 to urge the police to conduct further investigations on the claim of the missing RM1.76 million.
According to Golkan, the committee also recently approved the formation of an Investigative Body to probe into the claim that the committee had received a profit of RM1.76million gained from a business transaction purportedly under the club’s name.
“The investigative body is comprised of legal advisor Norbert Chin and two life members and one full member,” he said on Friday.
He said the independent investigative body would start its investigation after the Harvest Festival.
Golkan said the court on Mar 25 found that the club’s management committee is not at fault for the loss of the RM1.76m.
Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru was quoted as saying: “I further find an inquiry to be unnecessary as there is no evidence of other wrongdoings on the part of the defendant (RSCT management committee)…”.
To this, he said the announcement in the media is to inform club members and the public that the RSTC management committee has taken appropriate action fairly and transparently regarding the matter.
On other developments, he said the RSTC would be having its annual general meeting (AGM) on June 9 at the Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa starting at 4pm.
Golkan urged club members whether life or full members to update their membership by paying the fee.
“Those who fail to do so would not be allowed into the meeting,” he said.
He said the strict requirement was to ensure that the AGM is validly conducted.
“The management committee of the RSTC hopes that members would understand why the strict requirement was being enforced.
“This is because certain quarters would deliberately attempt to disarray the meeting with the purpose to make the AGM illegal,” he said.
He said the AGM on June 9 is meant for the 2010 AGM that was postponed following a court injunction applied by a certain group in the club.
He said the group concerned then subsequently requested for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held, which the RSTC management committee complied with.
The EGM was scheduled on Nov 5 last year as requested by the group concerned, he said.
But after preparations had been made to conduct the EGM, he claimed the group went to court to obtain an injunction to cancel the EGM.
Following that, the RSTC again tried to hold an AGM on Dec 1, last year but it was also cancelled after the group concerned obtained an injunction from the court.
Because of the group’s action, Golkan said the club suffered huge losses when it cancelled the booking for the venue and also for the food.
On this, he questioned the motive of the group for continuously preventing the club’s AGM to be held.
“The purpose of the annual general meeting was to let the members know the actual situation.
“We want to be transparent to the members. If the group concerned has any doubts or questions regarding the accounts and the running of the club, they can pose questions during the AGM.
“But we cannot hold the meeting because they kept on asking the court to prevent the AGM from being held,” he said.
Golkan said the grieving parties in the club should allow the AGM to proceed so that the management committee could explain and to clear any doubts with regards to the RSTC accounts and activities.