TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
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By Grace Leong
04 September 2014
Shares of Fung Choi Media Group took a battering for a second straight session yesterday on speculation over the integrity of its accounts.
The company, an associate of Fraser & Neave (F&N), missed a deadline last week for reporting its full-year 2014 results.
The printing and packaging firm’s stock plunged 20 per cent or 1.6 cents to 6.3 cents, on 3.3 million shares done. It lost 7 per cent on Tuesday.
Over the last five months, Fung Choi has lost its chief financial officer and an independent director: Mr Woo Yiu Chung resigned as CFO in April, and Mr Wang Xiao Dong, an independent director, quit in July.
“The talk on the floor is that this sudden loss of market confidence in Fung Choi may prompt F&N to divest itself of its stake in the company and push for a delisting,” a remisier said.
“But there’s still hope for Fung Choi investors because F&N, under new Thai management, may introduce some corporate actions to restore confidence in the company.”
Fung Choi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
When contacted, an F&N spokesman told The Straits Times the group “currently has no plans to sell its 29.5 per cent stake in Fung Choi”.
“F&N regularly reviews options for all our businesses as part of our ongoing effort to improve shareholder value,” she added.
Fung Choi’s board last week said the Singapore Exchange had given the company an extension of 30 days, until Sept 29, to issue its financial statements for the full year ended June 30. It was supposed to have released its fiscal 2014 earnings results on Aug 29.
Fung Choi said it needed more time to file its results as it has yet to find a suitable replacement for Mr Woo. It said the loss of key finance personnel had caused delays in finalising the accounts.
It had also realised, after a preliminary review of the full-year results, that further disclosure on some of the information on its supply chain management business may be necessary. It said the current finance team was addressing the issue.
Fung Choi expanded into supply chain management business last year. This expansion included the procurement and sourcing of products such as packaging boxes and various types of accessories for digital products and electrical equipment.
Notwithstanding its low margin, this new business grew strongly and contributed a turnover of HK$1.75 billion to group revenue, the company had said in its fiscal 2013 results.
The remisier was perplexed over Fung Choi’s statement on the need for further disclosure. “That statement is puzzling. That says the board saw the full-year results, but, for some reason, they didn’t release it, and blamed not having a CFO for that.”
In February, F&N nominated a new non-executive director, Mr Siew Ping Yim, who is CFO and chief operating officer of Times Publishing, to the Fung Choi board. “They could have tapped his expertise and financial management to do the accounts,” the remisier added.