KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has ruled that the Securities Commission (SC) successfully proved its case against five individuals for perpetrating a scheme to defraud and causing wrongful losses to four public-listed companies totalling RM120.6mil.
The five individuals listed are Tey Por Yee, Lim Chye Guan, See Poh Yee, Francis Tan Hock Leong and Faizatul Ikmi Abdul Razak as the defendants and the four companies affected were Nexgram Holdings Bhd, R&A Telecommunication Group Bhd, Asdion Bhd and Ire-Tex Corporation Bhd.
According to an SC statement on Thursday (Aug 20), Judge Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin in delivering the decision on Wednesday (Aug 19), held that there was evidence that the defendants took control of the four public listed companies and procured fundraising exercises, after which the proceeds were siphoned out from the said companies.
The SC said, the court declared that each defendant had contravened, among others, Sections 179 (a), 179(b), 317A and 370 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA) and ordered the defendants to pay RM100.6mil to the SC pursuant to Section 360 of the CMSA.
"Furthermore, the court ordered defendants to pay civil penalties amounting to RM2.65mil to the SC with Tey ordered to pay RM1mil, Lim RM600,000, while See, Tan and Faizatul were each ordered to pay RM350,000.
"The defendants are to be barred from being a director of, or being concerned, or taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of any public listed company for a period of 10 years from the date of judgment and defendants to pay total costs of RM500,000 to the SC," it said.
The statement said, to preserve the fruits of the judgment, the court also ordered that the defendants are restrained from dealing with their assets, until the sums due above have been paid in full.
Previously, in order to prevent the dissipation of the defendants' assets pending the trial, the SC had successfully obtained an injunction from the High Court in 2022, restraining Tey, Lim, See and Faizatul from dealing with the monies in their respective bank accounts.
The SC did not seek an injunction against Francis Tan as he is an undischarged bankrupt. Tey, Lim, See and Faizatul then appealed and the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision on Aug 21, 2024.
The SC had previously filed a civil suit against the defendants on Nov 29, 2022 for allegedly perpetrating a scheme to defraud and/or causing wrongful losses valued at RM120.6mil to the four public listed companies.
Under section 179 of the CMSA, a person is prohibited from directly or indirectly using any scheme to defraud or engaging in any act, practice or course of business that operates as a fraud or deceit upon any person in connection with the subscription, purchase or sale of securities.
As for section 317A of the CMSA, a director or officer of a listed corporation is prohibited from doing any act with the intention of causing wrongful loss to the listed corporation.
In its claim, the SC alleged that between December 2013 and July 2014, Tey, Lim, See and Tan, in their various capacities as directors and officers of the four public listed companies, siphoned out the proceeds of the companies' fundraising exercises, while Faizatul abetted or furthered the siphoning.
The trial took place between Oct 8, 2025 and April 29, 2026, whereby the SC called 33 witnesses to prove its claim and the defendants gave evidence on their own behalf, except for Tan who had been declared bankrupt and did not appear in the proceedings.
The statement said the High Court's decision reinforces the accountability of directors and officers entrusted with managing public-listed companies.
The SC remains committed to ensuring that misconduct involving the abuse of corporate structures, misappropriation of fundraising proceeds and conduct that causes wrongful losses to listed corporations will not be tolerated. – Bernama
