SHC charges Admore CEO with contempt of court

He fails to appoint a shareholder as the company’s director

ISLAMABAD: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued a notice to Admore Chief Executive Officer Amir Waliuddin Chisti for committing contempt of court by not complying with its order to appoint a shareholder as director of the company.

The court had issued the order on May 19, 2014 that plaintiff Anwar Masud Zaidi should be appointed adviser/consultant to Admore oil marketing company and should be paid a minimum remuneration of Rs550,000 per month as long as he continued to hold 5% shares in the company.

The court had also directed that Zaidi should be appointed director of the company immediately. “On the disposal of instant proceedings, the plaintiff shall be appointed on the board of directors of the company within a period of seven working days,” the court said.

However, in Form-29 submitted on February 9, 2017, the Admore CEO informed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) that in the meeting of board of directors, held on January 28, 2017, it was resolved that the applicant should vacate the office of director by operation of law for not attending three consecutive meetings of the board held on May 31, 2016, December 6, 2016 and January 6, 2017 despite notices.

Hence, in terms of Section 188(1)(b) of the companies ordinance, he said, the applicant ceased to hold office of the director of the company.

On March 14, 2017, the SECP sent a letter to the applicant, informing him of the filing of Form-29 by the company and removal of his name from among the board of directors and as a consultant.

The SECP also sent the letter to the company, which replied that the applicant ceased to hold office of the director by operation of law.

The applicant then filed a petition, pleading the Sindh High Court to take action against the Admore CEO. Following the filing of the petition, the court issued a notice to the CEO in order to initiate contempt-of-court proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2017.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.