KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): The faction of the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) led by its president Rizal Faris Mohideen Abdul Kader today claims that the election of Datuk Seri Syed Hussein Alhabshee as the chambers' new president earlier this month was "a big lie".

In a press conference and statement issued by Rizal Faris' group today, they claimed that the DPMM meeting held by Syed Hussein's group on June 15 at the Hotel Raja Chulan, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara is illegal and null and void as they had been expelled from the chamber after the group filed the suit against Rizal Faris.

"Hence the purported DPMM annual general meeting (AGM) held on June 15 by its former members is not valid in law and is a big lie.

The statement lists Syed Hussein, Fauzi Hassan, Abdul Halim Husin, Norsyahrin Hamidon, Datuk Syed Ali Alattas, Abdul Rahman Yaakub, Yusri Yusof, Mohd Azmi Ali, Zuhaizar A. Karim, Harun Mahmud, Mohd Rasit Saleh, Md. Pishal Ab. Raub, Mohd Zayad Md. Ismail, Muhammad Farhan Basheer Ahamed, Mohd Yusrizal Omar, Awang Sham Amat, Hamzah Paravil Moideom and Samani Amat as former members who held the alleged sham AGM.

"The holding of this meeting [by former members of the chamber where Syed Hussein was elected as the new president] is a big lie and is believed to have been done to wrest power from DPMM's legal leadership, confuse and deceive members of DPMM and the general public," said the group in the statement.

The meeting held on June 15 is not valid as the membership of Syed Hussein along with the 17 others mentioned above have been stripped when they filed the suit WA-24NCvC-1819-09/2018 as their actions are against the DPMM constitution.

"The valid DPMM president under the law is Rizal Faris as is recorded by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in its eRoses records managed by the Registrar.

A certified copy of the present leadership by RoS dated June 26 was also sent to theedgemarkets.com to verify that Rizal Faris is president and Don Nazwim Don Najib is its legal secretary general.

Rizal Faris also said a police report has been lodged against the group led by Syed Hussein as a follow-up.

"DPMM hopes there is further action on the organisers of this illegal AGM in order to prevent further confusion to DPMM members," the statement by Rizal Faris group added.

It was reported on Tuesday that the group led by Syed Hussein had withdrawn its suit against Rizal Faris and Don Nazwim on that day, following Syed Hussein's purported election as the new president.