Mobil To Omit Cornell Proxy

ITHACA. N.Y.--Mobil Corporation has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to omit a Cornell Corporate Responsibility Froject (CCRP) shareholder resolution from its annual meeting statement.

The resolution asks Mobil to "develop and adopt criteria for investments in foreign countries" where secrecy laws prevent the company from knowing the use of the goods and services it provides. It also requests that Mobil publish the accepted criteria that Mobil publish the accepted criteria and the corporation's compliance with them.

In a letter one month ago. Mobil officials requested that the SEC not take action against the company if it excluded the CCRP proxy from its shareholder statement.

CCRP, which owns two shares of Mobil stock, submitted its resolution to Mobil in December, and asked Mobil to print a supporting statement along with the proxy if the corporation recommends a negative vote on the resolution.

Same Proxy

Last month, CCRP members asked the SEC to recommend action against Mobil if it omits their proxy.

Mobil representatatives argued that the CCRP proxy is "substantially the same" as a resolution it submitted to the corporation in 1980, which dealt with the corporation's activities in Rhodesia.

Mobil also claimed that the resolution contained "false and misleading statements" and can be excluded under an SEC rule which prohibits such material.

Mobil argued that the CCRP proposal relates to the "conduct of the ordinary business operation" of the corporation, and can be omitted under SEC rules.

Gary S. Guzy, a law student and former director of the CCRP, said Mobil's conclusion about the similarity of CCRP's 1980 and 1981 proposals is "entirely unjustified," adding that it did not contain false or misleading statements. In a letter to the SEC, Mobil stated that the CCRP resolution is not limited to South Africa and Rhodesia, and could prohibit important investments in Canada and Britain, two countries whose secrecy laws also prevent full disclosure of the use of goods and services supplied by the company.