DOJ junks complaint vs Alliance Select

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of Singapore-based minority shareholders against seafood producer Alliance Select Foods International’s top officials.

In March last year, the foreign shareholders sued four board members of Alliance—George Sycip, Alvin Dee, Jonathan Dee and Ibarra Malonzo—for alleged denial of the shareholders’ right to inspect corporate records and minutes of the company’s board meetings, citing violation of provisions of the Corporation Code.

The complainants were Harvest All Investment Ltd., Victory Fund Ltd. and Bondeast Private Ltd. as represented by Chiew Chee Chong.  This is a group of shareholders critical of Alliance Select’s management team.

Sycip was then the company chair and an independent director while Jonathan Dee was the company’s president and chief executive officer. Malonzo was the representative of state-controlled pension fund Social Security System.

Jonathan Dee has since then given up the president/CEO post and is now chair of the company. SSS’ Malonzo no longer sits on the Alliance board.

Based on a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, the DOJ consolidated this lawsuit with another case filed in February last year by the same group against Alliance corporate secretary Annsley Bangkas and Sycip. They claimed Bangkas and Sycip had denied the group access to company records. In the same disclosure, Alliance cited a DOJ resolution dated July 28 dismissing both cases. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla