SET-listed Nation Multimedia Group Plc (NMG) will appeal a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order to ban eight people from being listed as company directors by lodging a petition with the Central Administrative Court, says founder Suthichai Yoon.
"The SEC order is unfair and non-transparent for us," he said. "We will petition to have the order reconsidered."
The SEC has banned eight NMG directors, including Mr Suthichai, from taking director positions at the company. The order has been effective since Oct 6, after an SEC investigation found that the executives had failed to perform their duty as directors of a listed company during NMG's annual general meeting (AGM) in April last year.
At that AGM, NMG executives and management blocked more than half of the shareholders from attending the meeting as a result of a dispute with MAI-listed News Network Corporation Plc, formerly known as Solution Corner (1998).
The banned eight are Mr Suthichai, Pakorn Borimasporn, Chaveng Chariyapisuthi, Adisak Limprungpatanakit, Kaemakorn Vachiravarakarn, Pana Janviroj, Duangkamol Chotana and Sermsin Samalapa.
Mr Suthichai said the order was issued on Oct 6, the same day that the Phra Khanong Provincial Court had dismissed the claim by News Network Corporation Plcthat that NMG and its nine-member board had blocked shareholders, including News Network's representatives, from attending the general shareholders meeting on April 29, 2015.
The court said the shareholder shut out had been ordered by one director without the other directors' knowledge. The court then dismissed the allegations, ordering News Network to pay the defendant's court fees, totally 42.5 million baht.
"The SEC's order is against the court's dismissal," said Mr Suthichai said, adding that the SEC is pressuring all the banned directors and executives to step down, resulting in major disruptions of the company's operations.
In the meantime, the SEC said that its recent ban of NMG executives had resulted from the public prosecutor's move to file criminal charges against them over the matter.
The SEC said the order had no connection to the Phra Khanong Provincial Court's ruling to acquit them of the civil charge, as the commission had reached their own conclusion prior to the court ruling, adding the executives' failure to perform their duty constituted improper conduct, as specified in the SEC's notification.
"Whether the Phra Khanong Provincial Court's ruling will have any bearing on the criminal case depends on the court's discretion and the SEC can't influence its verdict," the commission said in a release.