SIAPA DIA NI?

Selangor Tarik Gelaran Datuk

SHAH ALAM, 1 Feb (Bernama) -- Kerajaan Selangor hari ini menarik balik gelaran Datuk yang diberi kepada Amin Shah Omar berkuatkuasa 31 Jan 2008, demikian menurut satu kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Setiausaha Kerajaan Selangor Datuk Ramli Mahmud.

Beliau berkata keputusan itu diambil setelah menjunjung titah perintah Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah yang berunding dan bersidang di Dewan Di Raja Selangor kali ke-124, semalam.

"Keputusan itu dibuat kerana ketidakjujuran dan salah laku yang bertentangan dengan status Darjah Kebesaran berkenaan," katanya.

Darjah Kebesaran Datuk Mahkota Selangor (DPMS) itu dikurniakan pada 1996.

Amin Shah, 53, yang merupakan antara tokoh korporat terkemuka negara era 90an terlibat dalam pelbagai perniagaan di dalam dan luar negara seperti kejuruteraan berat, pembinaan kapal dan hartanah.

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Amin Shah declared a bankrupt
By Gan Yen Kuan
Edge daily

KUALA LUMPUR: Reportedly touted as “Malaysia’s Onassis” by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Amin Shah Omar Shah has now been officially declared a bankrupt.

Court documents obtained by The Edge Financial Daily showed that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had on Oct 9 issued a bankruptcy order against Amin Shah on the back of a default on personal loans owing to Affin Bank Bhd amounting to RM3.22 million.

Apart from his personal loans, Amin Shah was also exposed to “hundreds of millions” of debts as a result of his personal guarantee on the loans obtained by his corporate vehicle Business Focus Sdn Bhd from other major banks, sources said.

A source said Amin Shah, who is believed to be residing in Bahrain and Dubai now, was expected to file an appeal against the bankruptcy order or attempt to come to a settlement with the bank with the blessing of the Official Assignee.

The source also said that some of the lenders exposed to Amin Shah-related bad debts were still in the midst of instituting a bankruptcy order on him without knowing that he had been declared a bankrupt.

Business Focus, which is now under liquidation, had more than RM450 million of debts as at Sept 30, 1998.

Amin Shah, 53, was once a high-profile tycoon known for his close ties to Daim during the era of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He is also well known for his ability to speak in Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien.

Under the privatisation programme advocated by Dr Mahathir in the 1990s, Amin Shah emerged as one of the few bumiputera entrepreneurs able to secure government concessions and contracts.

In 1995, the government privatised Naval Dockyard in Lumut, Perak, to the then PSC Industries Bhd (PSCI), in which Amin Shah had a substantial stake, for RM300 million. The dockyard was then renamed PSC-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd.

Subsequently in 1998, PSC-Naval Dockyard was awarded a mammoth RM24 billion contract to build 27 offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The mega privatisation project, however, turned into a major failure after PSCI failed to deliver the first fleet of six vessels. (Two vessels were built in 2005, but they failed to pass pre-delivery trials.) By that time, PSCI was already in deep financial trouble.

A series of board tussles took place at PSCI in 2005, which eventually saw Amin Shah relinquishing his executive role in the company. In early 2006, he ceased to be the chairman and director of PSCI following his absence in more than half of the board meetings held in 2005.

Following a restructuring and debt settlement scheme announced in December 2006, PSCI’s mess was cleaned up and it started afresh in August this year with a new name, Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Bhd, 65% controlled by Boustead Holdings Bhd.

Other financially-distressed companies associated to Amin Shah included Actacorp Holdings Bhd, which was delisted from Bursa Malaysia in February 2005 after failing to regularise its debts.

He had also once helmed Setron (M) Bhd, now known as Halifax Capital Bhd, a PN17 company that is facing de-listing and whose proposed regularisation plan is pending the Securities Commission’s approval.

Amin Shah lost his directorship in Bolton Bhd — his last directorship in a public-listed company in the country — in July this year after Bolton’s shareholders voted him out of the board of the company during an AGM.

According to a source, he is currently operating his own business in Dubai.