A bloc of minority shareholders at giant auto dealer CMC Holding Ltd today came together to demand that the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) compel their directors to convene the overdue Annual General Meeting. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed company's shareholders have also accused the regulator of professional irresponsibility after CMA granted CMC directors a 3-month extension to hold the statutory meeting under circumstances that they claim are baseless.

Speaking at a press conference, the bloc's representative Jeremiah Otaro Owich also demanded a public publishing of the company's financial results for the period, accusing the regulator of failing to act within its powers to protect the shareholders interests.

“If CMA can penalize a listed company for failing to issue a profit warning, why hasn’t the regulator penalized CMA for failing to publish the annual financial reports?. As shareholders we strongly feel that CMA has compromised itself in dealing with the CMC situation. We also believe that the best platform for we as shareholders to be participate in the developments on our company as has been debated in the media, is the AGM,” Otaro said

The auto dealer last September started experiencing a vicious boardroom war and claims of fraud which allegedly cost shareholders billions of shillings. This resulted to CMA suspending CMCs share trading at the stock exchange . The regulator also launched an investigation into the company undertakings after a row over the legality of a boardroom coup which saw the ouster of Peter Muthoka as chairman emerged.

Otaro also claims the company’s poor performance for three consecutive years, coupled with the appointment of a new commission’s agent by the management without the board’s approval, plans to relocate the Land Rover and Volkswagen franchises to an alternative showroom at a cost of KES250million were questionable and warranted an Emergency General Meeting which the regulator overlooked.

Another group of the company's minority shareholders has filed a case in court seeking address of the same grievances Otaro's group was addressing. Otaro said he is not aware of the court case but denied there being disagreements among the over 15,000 minority shareholders saying their grievances were the same despite lack of a uniform voice.