KUALA LUMPUR: A company and its director, a Singaporean, have been charged in the Sessions Court here on four counts of offering RM15mil worth of Islamic Redeemable Preference Shares (iRPS) to the public between August 2020 and August 2021.
In a statement, the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) said FGP Ventures Sdn Bhd and Khemlani Satesh, 62, were charged on Nov 28.
It added that the company and Khemlani claimed trial before Judge Aminah Ghazali for each of the two charges faced. The court set Jan 10, 2024, for mention.
“The accused, between Aug 30, 2020 and Aug 29, 2021 at FGP Ventures, which is a private limited company, according to shares with a business address at Wisma UOA Damansara II, Changkat Semantan, Damansara Heights, here, had accumulated preference shares and offered to the public shares of the company, known as iRPS, which a private company is prohibited from doing so.
“As such, FGP Ventures and the director were each charged with two counts per Section 43 (1) and Section 90 (4) of the Companies Act 2016,” said CCM, reported Bernama.
Section 43(1) of the Companies Act 2016 states that a private company is prohibited from offering company shares to the public and can be punished under Section 43(5) of the same Act which carries a prison sentence not exceeding five years or a maximum fine of RM3mil or both, upon conviction.
Section 90(4) of the Companies Act 2016, meanwhile, states that it is an offence to accumulate company preference shares without having a company constitution and this can be punished under Section 90(5) of the same Act, which provides for a fine of up to RM500,000.
Senior prosecuting officers Mohd Fairuz Othman and Mohd Iqbal Mohd Yusof acted on behalf of the prosecution while the company and its director were represented by lawyers Muhammad Hasif Ghazali and Fithril Hakim Ab Jalil.
