Time dotCom: EPF head to meet DAP MP
Susan LoonePublished: Mar 14, 2001 10:40 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Employees Provident Fund (EPF) executive chairman Abdul Halim Ali has agreed to meet with an opposition member of Parliament regarding the fund's involvement in the purchasing of un-subscribed Time dotCom Bhd shares.
DAP Member of Parliament for Cheras, Tan Kok Wai said that Abdul Halim's personal assistant told him that the chairman had left word that he will meet Tan next week.
"But he (Abdul Halim) did not specify the date," Tan told reporters outside the EPF office in Kuala Lumpur today.
"I have been wanting to meet him for three weeks already, since the EPF six percent dividend was announced but he had failed to respond," he added.
This morning, about 30 Barisan Alternatif supporters gathered outside the EPF building to protest the Fund's latest investment bid in the Time dotCom Bhd.
They were led by DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, PRM executive committee member R Sivarasa and Keadilan's secretary-general Annuar Tahir.
Police report
While the supporters were displaying placards, a commotion started when a security officer shouted "Keluar dari sini (Get out of here)".
His action irritated Lim to the extent that the latter shouted back "EPF hak rakyat. Kita bayar gaji you. Tak malu, minta maaf sekarang (EPF belongs to the people. We pay your salaries. Shameless ... say sorry now)".
At 11.30am, the group moved to the Dang Wangi police station where Lim lodged a police report against the EPF for possible criminal breach of trust and misuse of public funds based on The Sun's report on Monday.
The Sun report stated that Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd were believed to have taken up the unsubscribed public portion of Time dotCom Bhd's initial public offering (IPO).
Time dotCom's initial stock sale of 571 million shares at RM3.30 each under its IPO was undersubscribed by 75 percent when applications closed on Feb 13. Only 142.86 million shares were subscribed.
Bailing out
An official familiar with the listing exercise said Time dotCom is believed to have submitted to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) 'Form 29B', which contains details of the purchase of the unsubscribed shares by the two institutions and Danaharta.
The purchase by the three funds would allow Time dotCom to meet the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's (KLSE) listing requirements.
Under the requirements, a company with more than RM100 million in paid-up capital is required to have at least 1,250 shareholders and not less than 25 percent of the shares must be held by the public.
An announcement on the shareholders including the parties taking up the unsubscribed shares is expected this week.
Lower price
Lim said that Abdul Halim had neither responded to concerns expressed in the past month by the 9.7 million EPF contributors about the misuse of EPF monies nor issued any denials in the past two days in response to the Sun's report that it was one of the government agencies which had taken up the unsubscribed public portion of the Time dotCom IPO.
"It is criminal breach of trust and criminal misuse of public funds for the EPF to use the savings of 9.7 million EPF contributors to participate in bailing out the RM1.4 billion shortfall when the stock could be bought at a lower price," he said.
Sivarasa said that if there was genuine accountability in the country, the chairman of the board would be sacked, taken in for questioning, suspended or investigated for such misuse of funds.
DAP Member of Parliament for Cheras, Tan Kok Wai said that Abdul Halim's personal assistant told him that the chairman had left word that he will meet Tan next week.
"But he (Abdul Halim) did not specify the date," Tan told reporters outside the EPF office in Kuala Lumpur today.
"I have been wanting to meet him for three weeks already, since the EPF six percent dividend was announced but he had failed to respond," he added.
This morning, about 30 Barisan Alternatif supporters gathered outside the EPF building to protest the Fund's latest investment bid in the Time dotCom Bhd.
They were led by DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, PRM executive committee member R Sivarasa and Keadilan's secretary-general Annuar Tahir.
Police report
While the supporters were displaying placards, a commotion started when a security officer shouted "Keluar dari sini (Get out of here)".
His action irritated Lim to the extent that the latter shouted back "EPF hak rakyat. Kita bayar gaji you. Tak malu, minta maaf sekarang (EPF belongs to the people. We pay your salaries. Shameless ... say sorry now)".
At 11.30am, the group moved to the Dang Wangi police station where Lim lodged a police report against the EPF for possible criminal breach of trust and misuse of public funds based on The Sun's report on Monday.
The Sun report stated that Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd were believed to have taken up the unsubscribed public portion of Time dotCom Bhd's initial public offering (IPO).
Time dotCom's initial stock sale of 571 million shares at RM3.30 each under its IPO was undersubscribed by 75 percent when applications closed on Feb 13. Only 142.86 million shares were subscribed.
Bailing out
An official familiar with the listing exercise said Time dotCom is believed to have submitted to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) 'Form 29B', which contains details of the purchase of the unsubscribed shares by the two institutions and Danaharta.
The purchase by the three funds would allow Time dotCom to meet the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's (KLSE) listing requirements.
Under the requirements, a company with more than RM100 million in paid-up capital is required to have at least 1,250 shareholders and not less than 25 percent of the shares must be held by the public.
An announcement on the shareholders including the parties taking up the unsubscribed shares is expected this week.
Lower price
Lim said that Abdul Halim had neither responded to concerns expressed in the past month by the 9.7 million EPF contributors about the misuse of EPF monies nor issued any denials in the past two days in response to the Sun's report that it was one of the government agencies which had taken up the unsubscribed public portion of the Time dotCom IPO.
"It is criminal breach of trust and criminal misuse of public funds for the EPF to use the savings of 9.7 million EPF contributors to participate in bailing out the RM1.4 billion shortfall when the stock could be bought at a lower price," he said.
Sivarasa said that if there was genuine accountability in the country, the chairman of the board would be sacked, taken in for questioning, suspended or investigated for such misuse of funds.
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