WE WISH to point out contradictions in Mr Tan Kok Khoon's letter, 'Mandarin Gardens en-bloc sale - committee not involved in AGM'' (May 9).
According to Mr Tan, the Mandarin Gardens Collective Sales Committee (CSC) 'was not involved in the proceedings of the annual general meeting on April 27', but the facts speak otherwise.
Official records show that 200 owners attended the AGM, of whom 93 attended in person and 107 attended by proxy. Of the proxies, 69 were held by two CSC members, one of whom was Mr Tan himself who held 55 proxies.
Yet, Mr Tan says in his letter: 'We certainly did not organise any collection of proxies', suggesting this large concentration of proxies in the hands of two CSC members came by without organisation and effort, which is hard to believe.
Mr Tan also said in his letter: 'One of our (CSC) members present at the AGM declared that none of us would stand for election to the council.' In fact, a resolution to prevent CSC members from being management council members and vice versa, was soundly defeated by 67 per cent of the votes. Clearly, the CSC did not approve of this resolution and used its proxies to vote against it.
Finally, two CSC members tabled a resolution to bar the management council from spending more than $50,000 on urgent matters. This controversial resolution was passed by a 61 per cent majority, obviously with the help of proxy votes held by CSC members.
It is evident to us who attended the AGM, the longest ever recorded at Mandarin Gardens, that CSC members influenced the proceedings and determined the outcome of the AGM.
K. Kuladeva, Dennis Butler and Jeannette Aruldoss (Ms)
This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 19, 2008
