KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — Three minority shareholders of Maika Holdings Sdn Bhd had filed a suit against the company, seeking compensation and damages.

In the suit filed on April 19, Datuk S.Marathamuthu, R. Alameloo and Datuk V. Elango claimed that Maika Holdings had been unfair to the shareholders and did not act in their best interest.

They named G-Team Resources and Holding Sdn Bhd, Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam, Tan Sri S. Kunsasingam, Arasu M. Thangaveloo, A. Ramesh and Maika Holdings Berhad as respondents in the suit.

Representing the plaintiff are Datuk David Gurupatham, V. Murali and P. Punithan.

Among the main issues that the plaintiff had raised in the filing, is that Maika Holdings which is currently undergoing liquidation exercise, had not acted in their best interest in the sale of its insurance firm Oriental Commercial Assurance and several other assets at much lower prices.

Datuk David Gurupatham said the suit was to seek  justice for the shareholders as they were not given the best outcome from the deals.

"The grounds on which the plaintiff is filing the case is on the allegations of oppression of minority shareholders and that the company had not acted in the interest of the shareholders.

"The profits of the sale had allegedly also been taken by the defendants and not the company,” said David.

Maika Holdings was established by the MIC in the early 1980s as an investment fund for the Indian community.

Its shareholders were 60,000 mostly poor Indian members of the Barisan Nasional component party.

The fund reportedly raised RM108 million in the first year but lost most of the money to what its managers claimed were bad investments. It forced Maika to be liquidated in 2010.

Following the companies liquidation in 2010, Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive chairman Gnanalingam and Kunasingam had established a special purpose vehicle called G-Team Resources and Holding Sdn Bhd to take control of Maika in order to pay back the shareholders.

The court has since set May 2 as the next case management hearing.