KUALA LUMPUR (May 15): Four independent and non-executive directors of Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd — including  a press secretary to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak — have resigned as part of an “overall restructuring plan”.

The Umno-controlled media group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today that the directors resigned between May 12 and 15.

This comes after Umno-led Barisan Nasional suffered a shock defeat in the May 9 general election.

“In the meantime, the operations of Utusan group will continue as normal,” said the loss-making publisher of Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo! newspapers.

The four directors who voluntarily resigned from Utusan’s board are its chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh, Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, Jamalul Kiram Mohd Zakaria and Mohd Yusof Abu Othman.

Tengku Sariffuddin served as ousted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Press secretary.

Following the resignation of all four independent directors, Utusan said the composition of its board of directors has been reduced from eight to four.

The four remaining directors are group managing director Datuk Mohd Noordin Abbas, group editor-in-chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak, Datuk Md Afendi Hamdan and Tan Sri Ismail Yusof.

Mohd Noordin and Abdul Aziz are executive directors, while Md Afendi and Ismail are independent directors.

The current composition of directors in Utusan’s board has breached Chapter 15 of Bursa Malaysia Listing Requirement (BMLR), which requires a listed company to have at least one-third of independent directors.

“The board acknowledges the importance of complying with the BMLR in relation to the composition of independent directors on the board and will take the necessary steps to appoint new independent directors in due course,” Utusan said in its filing.

Relying on the provision in the BMLR, Utusan has three months to fill in the vacancy in its board of directors.

Umno holds a 49.77% stake in Utusan via RHB Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd.

Shares in Utusan, which has been listed on the Main Market since August 1994, gained 2.5 sen or 8% to 28 sen today, for a market capitalisation of RM31.01 million.