[asia-apec 319] RAID & SEIZURE (TENAGANITA)

[alarm]

PRESS  STATEMENT 
14 January 1996


RE: RAID AND SEIZURE OF DOCUMENTS FROM TENAGANITA

Berita Harian,  today carried in its front page  an 'exclusive' on "ROC
serbu Tenaganita". The article states that officials from the Registrar
of Companies raided the office at about 2.00 p.m. on 13 Jan.1997, took
several documents and questioned a number of the staff.

We, in Tenaganita are indeed bewildered on this report as no such raid
happened at our  premises on Jan. 13, 1997.  What shocks us further is
that Benita Harian in its article revealed the source to be the
Registrar of Companies (ROC) office.

However,  today at about 11:00 a.m. five officers from the Registrar of
Companies came to our office at Lorong Bonus 6 stating that they had
come on a routine inspection.  Prior to coming to our office they had
gone to our Auditors and Company secretary.  The five officers, from the
enforcement division of the Registrar of Companies looked at our books
and supporting documents for the year 1996.  They then seized the Main
Cash Book for 1996 and 1997, Petty Cash Book for 1996/1997 and vouchers
and supporting documents.  They were at our office for about 3 hours.

I asked them under what section of the Companies Act they were
conducting the raid and seizure.  They stated that they were conducting
the raid under the powers given in Sec. 7B and 7C, and in particular
Section 7C.3 of the Companies Act.  This particular section is used when
the Registrar of Companies has grounds to suspect that due to an offense
a person may dispose off documents.

When I asked wether any complaint was made against the company and by
whom, what were the grounds of suspicion of any offense and the nature
of the offense, the officers refused to comment.  They stated very
clearly that they have received orders from the Deputy Registrar 1 of
the ROC for today's actions.

I also requested for the company to have photocopies of all documents
seized from me.  I wanted to have copies as I did not want to have any
misunderstanding over the documents in the future, but was refused.

The above raid and seizure of documents by the Registrar of Companies
smacks of nothing less than of harassment on us arising from our work as
human rights monitors and defenders of the rights and concerns of the
marginalised communities.  For the ROC to release information to the
press, prior to the raid today is pure mala fide.  This current action,
we think comes from political pressure.

The ROC conducted a thorough investigation in the late 1995 on our
accountability and found everything in order.  In fact the Deputy
Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs had even stated that NGOs had
not contravened the Act and that the ROC would continue to accept
applications from such bodies to register as business ventures.(Sunday
Mail, 3 Dec. 1995) Therefore, to raid and seize our documents related to
our accounts for 1996 is indeed unnecessary. We are also concerned
because all these documents are required for our 1996 auditing of
accounts.

This form of harassment on us and on other NGOs who have stood steadfast
on fundamental rights and for justice is a ploy to divert the people's
attention from fundamental issues of corruption, of political leaders
being arrested or detained and failure to address key social issues
affecting the people and the nation.

(SGD) 
IRENE FERNANDEZ
Director