PRESIDENT FIGHTS FORMER PRESIDENT: THE ROYAL SELANGOR CLUB IRREPARABLY DAMAGED

Royal Selangor Club- Never a Dull Moment

WHO TIPPED OFF CUSTOMS

It can now be revealed that efforts to unseat the current president of the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) -4 months into his tenure -and the orchestrated campaign to prevent an independent external audit of the clubs finances over missing monies is being led by a former president of the RSC and a journalist.

It is alleged that the ‘journalist’ -with the express knowledge and consent of the former president -‘tipped off’ customs-supplying customs with intimate details of breaches- unbeknown to the current president of the RSC.

That ‘tip off’ designed to embarrass the current president resulted in the recent raid on the club’s premises not long after the current president took office. The raid resulted in the RSC being fined for breaches of the customs act. It was an act designed to embarrass and pressure the current president into dropping any further investigation into the missing millions from the RSC’s finances.

What customs discovered in the raid were carry-over breaches of compliance issues and nothing new that could be attributed to the current administration of the RSC . Information provided to customs we are able to reveal came in the form of minute details only an insider informant with significant knowledge accumulated over time could have supplied them with.

BREACHES OF THE CONSTITUTION

A few weeks prior and in contravention of the Rules of the RSC’s constitution, the same individuals- aided by members of the former board- further initiated court action in an effort to injunct the president and his board from carrying out their duties at the club.

A desultory application, very poorly drafted and incomplete in its substance was presented to court prior to the applicants having exhausted all internal processes, procedures and remedies to resolve issues as is required under the RSC’s constitution.

To their credit the club’s legal representatives called on the presiding judge to recuse himself in light of a revelation the presiding judge is a member of the RSC. There could have been a potential conflict of interest or perceived/ actual bias situation If the judge had continued to sit in hearing the injunction. The judge in question recused himself.

SHOULD SERVING JUDGES CONTINUE WITH THEIR MEMBERSHIP OF SUCH A CLUB

The judge we are also able to confirm is a member of the RSC. He is not alone in his membership of what is clearly now a volatile and parlous situation any sitting judicial officer ought to avoid. Along with a number of other sitting and past members of the judiciary the judge remains a member of the RSC. More on the judge and the members who sought the injunction will be discussed in an upcoming article.

A CLUB IN CRISIS

When contacted for comment, no one at the club at least at a board level was prepared to speak to us on the issues that appear to be dividing the 126 year old ‘high end of town’ club. The current stoush between members at the RSC and its new president is unprecedented in its 136 years history.

A MEMBERS SPEAKS

One person in the know, a decades old veteran of the RSC who spoke to us on condition of anonymity had the following to say about the present crisis at the RSC:

‘the new president and his board want to ‘clean the place up’. The matter in truth concerns the suspension of a very loud member of the RSC who once held a board position and does not like the current president. If this does not stop now it will end up in court where out of necessity things none of us want the rest of the world to know will surface. There is no smoke without fire”

He went further to suggest the following:

“after dealing with the very serious and embarrassing issue of the misappropriation of monies – which members of the former board are desperately trying to stop-, the president will prune the membership.

He is being asked by some influential members quietly to get rid of the habitual drunks, the thieves, bankrupts, those whose characters are deemed unsuitable for continuing membership of the club under its constitution.

These include members with serious civil offences, criminal convictions and findings of credit made by courts against them. Findings that reflect their undesirable characters from civil suits which under the constitution disqualify them from membership of the RSC.  There are other undesirable members including bankrupts and former directors of bankrupted companies who have been allowed to remain in the club without challenge to their membership under previous administrations. The president must act to terminate their membership”.

“Those whose conduct has brought the club into disrepute must go at any cost”. The member continued.

“The president is serious about the reputation of the RSC . He has to be. He must be allowed to run his full term without interference of this kind. What has gone on in the past is like a circus. That culture of division must end.

The atmosphere at the RSC is tense and toxic. People do not trust each other. There is no sense of camaraderie or fellowship. Most members want the president to bring this unhealthy unlawful climate of belligerence to an end regardless of the consequences to those whose conduct, character and credibility do not meet the RSC’s standards as prescribed by its constitution. The president must prune undesirables from the RSC’s register or give up its Royal Warrant.

The present situation is clearly unacceptable. It is embarrassing to us all and has brought disrepute to the club, tainted its proud history and shamed all members including the Sultan of this state who is patron of the club.

He ended by saying “the president must act and act swiftly. It is within his powers to take whatever immediate and drastic steps are required to stem the damage and to clean the place up and to re write the RSC’s constitution. The constitution is a disgrace and outdated. It is within the president’s legal powers to do so.”

Continues……

– takemon.wordpress.com