THE Minority Shareholder Watch Group (MSWG) is seeking an answer from Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd in regards to the outcome of investigation into allegations of conflict of interest on the part of its deputy group chairman at its forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM).
Among others, the shareholder activism group wishes to know if there has been a formal investigation carried out internally by the company’s board using independent parties.
“Who are the independent parties used, if any? What was the independent party conclusion?” asked MSWG.
“The board has concluded that the allegations of conflict of interest made against the abovementioned parties are without any basis whatsoever. Was the board’s decision unanimous?”
To re-cap, the Cahya Mata board had issued a media statement on April 22 stating that the group had received conflict of interest allegations against its deputy group chairman and former chief information officer through the group’s whistleblower channel.
However, the board made another media statement on May 6 stating that among others, it is “completely satisfied that the allegations of conflict of interest made against Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib and Karl Vink, former Cahya Mata’s chief information officer (CIO), in relation to the award of the contract by CMS I-Systems Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cahya Mata, to Vienna Advantage GmbH are without any basis whatsoever.”
To this, MSWG is also curious to know if there has been any feedback from the market regulators on the allegations.
Cahya Mata will stage its 46th AGM virtually from Menara Symphony in Petaling Jaya, Selangor at 11am on May 31 (Monday).
Elsewhere, the shareholder activism group is also querying Genting Malaysia Bhd over the company’s departure from Practice 4.2 of the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) which stated that the tenure of an independent director should not exceed a cumulative term limit of nine years.
This happened as there are two independent directors with tenure exceeding nine years where no resolutions were proposed to seek shareholders’ approval to retain them as independent directors beyond nine years.
Additionally, the company’s board has two other independent directors with tenure exceeding 12 years who have been proposed for re-election but there was no mention of seeking shareholders’ approval through a two-tier voting process.
“Why does the group not apply the practices in the MCCG? Is there any plan to apply these practices?” asked MSWG.
Genting Malaysia will stage its fully virtual 41st AGM from its head office in Wisma Genting, Kuala Lumpur at 10am on June 2 (Wednesday). – May 28, 2021
