KUALA LUMPUR: Protasco Bhd’s non-executive director Tey Por Yee has called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove the company’s managing director Datuk Seri Chong Ket Pen from the board.

In a statement issued late afternoon yesterday, Tey said the EGM will be held on Nov 28. He will be furnishing the facts and evidence of Chong’s wrongdoing relating to two Protasco’s Indonesia investments directly to the shareholders, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, two Protasco substantial shareholders, UOBM Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd and Tan Heng Kui who collectively hold a 10.51% stake, want to remove Tey and his counterpart Ooi Kock Aun.

To recap, the shareholder tussle started when Protasco last month filed a legal suit against Tey, Ooi  and PT Anglo Slavia Utama to claim back US$22.2 million (RM73 million) it had paid in its foiled attempt to buy a 63% stake in oil and gas outfit PT Anglo Slavic Indonesia (PT ASI).

Protasco claimed in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that naming Tey and Ooi as defendants in the suit was premised on the breach of their fiduciary and statutory duties, including the duty to disclose their interests in the transaction, conspiracy to defraud Protasco and the “making of secret profit”.

However, Tey denied that he is holding any shares in PT ASU and PT ASI.

Tey, who owns 16.68% of Protasco,  alleged at a press conference on Tuesday that Protasco through its subsidiaries had paid a total of RM16 million to PT Goldchild Integritas for bitumen and coal trading with Indonesia. Of this RM16 million, RM10 million was channelled back to RS Maha Niaga Sdn Bhd, whose shareholders are senior management executives of Protasco.

Tey claimed that a paper trail of money provided evidence that the amount paid by Protasco went through layers of companies before a RM10 million cheque was drawn and paid for the benefit of Maha Niaga’s account with United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd.

As such, Tey filed a derivative action against the company and its senior management, via his private vehicle Kingdom Seekers Ventures Sdn Bhd, for the return of RM10 million to Protasco and general damages it purportedly suffered.

However, Chong denied all the allegations.

“Clearly, these new proceedings amount to nothing more than an attempt to smear and tarnish my reputation, apart from seeking to divert attention away from the earlier ongoing legal proceedings filed by Protasco Bhd against Tey and others,” Chong said in a joint press statement.

Chong said he had appointed solicitors to “vigorously defend” himself against the civil suit and will lodge a police report in respect of those allegations.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 31, 2014.