The suit was filed in the High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur last week by Dr Ng Ah Kow and Lee Tak Suan, son of former club chairman, the late Dato Lee Kok Chee.

In their affidavits, the two ordinary members alleged that the committee had negligently invested in the Fountain View Development shares.

SLTC purchased paid RM20 million for shares in Fountain View Development Berhard, a property counter on the Bursa Saham Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) but the shares are now worth a fraction of its purchase price.

They claimed that they were not informed during the June16, 2004 Annual General Meeting about the purchase of Fountain View Development shares, which had been made on or about May 5, 2004.

The duo also said the club failed to post on the Notice Board their intention to purchase Fountain View Development shares. In their statement of claim, they said the club failed to circulate notices to all of its members giving relevant information prior to the purchase of the shares.

Rule 24 (b) of the club’s constitution states that if the committee intends to spend more than RM500,000 for whatever purpose, the committee must circulate a notice, prior to proceeding with the expenditure, to all ordinary and life members giving information about the proposed expenditure.

Among other things, the two ordinary members are seeking a declaration that the committee acted "in breach of their fiduciary duties" and also want the committee to reimburse the club for all losses suffered. They are also seeking general and exemplary damages.

They also want an injunction restraining the committee from using the club’s funds for their legal defence.

The club had purchased shares to the value of RM30 million in a counter without any proven track record and whose shares had just been listed on the KLSE without seeking approval of the members, they claimed.

The suit was also in relation to the club entering into a complex put and call option agreement with Dato Chin Chan Leong, who is the husband of Datin Yam Tuet Chew, the principal shareholder and director of Fountain View Development. The put and call option was extended on two occasions, they claimed.

Chin has since been charged in court with the manipulation of the Stock Market under the Securities Industries Act, 1988.

The ordinary members claimed that the club had breached the club’s constitution and rules, taking six million Fountain View Development shares by way of security.

They said: "The club had, allegedly relied on the advice of Mayban Securities when the latter’s opinion was to sell Fountain View Development shares and take profits (and not to purchase its shares).

"Failing to sell the Fountain View Development shares for a period of some 10 months thereby losing an opportunity to dispose off the said shares at around RM5 per share and mitigating the losses suffered by the club."

"Structuring the entire exercise in a highly irregular, unusual and surreptitious manner without any disclosure tothe members thereby casting grave suspicion as to whether the transaction was in fact a genuine purchase of shares or a money lending transaction.

"By their conduct, the members of the club have, according to the information disclosed to them by the committee, lost nearly RM12 million of its savings, which had been prudently and carefully built up over the years," they claimed in their affidavits.

The case is fixed for hearing on Dec 3, 2005.

On July 29, some ordinary members lodged a police report against several committee members of the SLTC.

The SLTC share saga started on May 12, 2005 when the committee, for the first time, informed the members that they had purchased shares worth RM20 Million in Fountain View Development.

The Fountain View Development shares plummeted from RM5 to 40 sen days before the SLTC’s last exercise date of April 30, 2005.