Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:16pm EDT
* Sudan proposals at funds gain 23.4 pct, 21.9 pct support
* Trustee Gamper opposes proposals
BOSTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Shareholders of two Fidelity Investments mutual funds voted down on Friday proposals aimed at blocking them from holding stakes in companies doing business with Sudan's government, which is accused of war crimes.
The votes were the latest to turn down the proposal that activists have brought before other Fidelity funds and at rival Vanguard Group Inc this summer.
At a meeting on the measures, Fidelity funds trustee Albert R. Gamper gave a rare public defense of the fund board's position, arguing that governments, not companies, are best suited to handle questions over Sudan.
Support for the measures was 21.9 percent of votes cast in the Fidelity Freedom 2010 fund and 23.4 percent of votes cast in the Fidelity Freedom 2020 fund, according to figures Fidelity gave at a lightly attended meeting in Boston's financial district.
The company did not give further details about the results, but the percentages were similar to the support the measures have gained in the past at other funds run by the Boston mutual fund giant.
Eric Cohen, chairman of Investors Against Genocide, which promoted the measures, said he was encouraged they have drawn consistent support.
"Even with active opposition from Fidelity, this shows that large number of their customers want this," he said.
Fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region began in 2003 between rebels and the central government in Khartoum, which used militias to crush the revolt.
This year the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague accused Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, of war crimes and crimes against humanity including directing attacks against civilians -- charges Bashir has denied.
Activists say Sudan's government has profited from payments from Chinese oil companies tapping resources there including the parent of PetroChina Co Ltd and want fund firms to divest these shares.
Fidelity has said in the past that questions over human-rights matters were best addressed by policymakers rather than companies.
Speaking at the meeting, Fidelity funds trustee Gamper said the company's funds board was neither "prepared nor suited" to make judgments about policy questions. In contrast, many states including Massachusetts, California, New York and Texas have all pulled money out of stocks to protest Sudan's actions.
"We're passing the buck to the elected officials in this country," Gamper said. Of the diplomacy by the West toward Sudan, he added that "Quite frankly it's not being addressed by the governments of the U.S. or Europe very well at all."
Gamper did not take follow-up questions after the meeting. Fidelity said seven other funds would meet further on the matter next month. The measure was defeated at four other funds in July, drawing between 18.1 percent and 24.6 percent support.
Fidelity also said it would investigate complaints, from at least three shareholders, that they had trouble registering their support for the human-rights measure with Fidelity's proxy voting firm, D.F. King & Co. (Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)