Friday March 4, 2011
By MARTIN CARVALHO malacca@thestar.com.my
JASIN: Directors of dormant companies that have failed to submit their annual report to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) will be exempted from the RM5,000 penalty imposed on them if they voluntarily wind up their companies.
The new ruling comes into immediate effect with thousands of errant directors expected to take up the offer.
They need only to write in to the ROC and pay a RM120 gazette fee for the purpose of closing their companies.
Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the waiver follows numerous complaints from directors of dormant companies who are facing accumulated compounds after failing to submit their annual reports.
At present, a company director will have to pay a penalty of RM5,000 even if the company has wound up without liabilities.
“Directors who want to close down their dormant companies need to just write in to inform the ROC of their intention and the penalties will be waived,” he told reporters when visiting the media by-election centre in Merlimau yesterday.
He said there are instances of people who unwittingly sign on as a director of a company at the behest of friends.
Three years later, they find themselves facing accumulated compounds amounting to RM15,000 for failing to submit their company’s annual report.
“When we introduced the written application in 2006 (for companies to be wound up), we received some 40,000 applications annually for companies to be wound up.
“The directors still had to pay the compounds,” he said.