KUALA LUMPUR (June 26): A group claiming to represent the 900,000 shareholders of Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd (Bank Rakyat) filed a legal action today in a bid to take back the management of the cooperative bank from the government.

The application for judicial review seeks the dissolution of the bank's board of directors and for a shareholders meeting to be called to terminate the operation of the Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd Act (Special Provision 202) 1978.

The termination of the Act would effectively take the management of the bank away from the government.

The application was filed at the High Court by Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal, Datuk Mustafha Abd Razak and Datuk Rahim Yunus as shareholders of the bank, and as members of a pro-tem committee representing the 900,000 shareholders.

Their lawyer, Mohd Hanif Khatri Abdulla, said the application was made to challenge the decision by former Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof to disallow requests by Bank Rakyat members to abolish the Act and for members to call for a shareholders' meeting to discuss its abolition.

The applicants are seeking a declaration by the court for the minister to invoke Section 31 of the Act, which reads: “If at any time it appears to the minister that it is no longer necessary that this Act should remain in force, the minister may, with the concurrence of the minister of finance, direct the board to call a general meeting of the members of the bank for the purpose of constituting a board of directors under the by-laws of the bank.”

The application also named the bank’s board of directors, the finance ministry and the government as respondents.

According to Hanif, Tun Hussein Onn, when serving as the nation's prime minister, had stated that the Act was just a temporary measure to save the Bank Rakyat from abuse of power and insolvency, and that as soon as the problems were fixed, the running and management of the bank should be given back to the bank.  

“We have been instructed by our clients to reiterate that the loan the government has given to them has been paid back in full some 20 years ago and now the bank is intact in its management.

"The applicants feel it is time for the management of the bank to be given back to the members of the bank without the interference of the government as espoused by Tun Hussein Onn,” the lawyer said.