SUSPENDED executive director (ED) of technical rubber compound provider GIIB Holdings Bhd (formerly Goodway Integrated Industries Bhd), Wong Weng Yew, has clarified that his suspension by the came about after he raised questions about the nature of several transactions which he found to be suspicious in nature.
This is contrary to the company’s claim via a Bursa Malaysia filing dated April 12 that the suspension of Wong, 38, was to facilitate the investigation into his management and handling of the glove business and the company’s accounts.
“The announcement of my suspension was reported in a statement by GIIB to Bursa Malaysia on April 11. This was then reported in the media at the time with scarce details to the background of events in recent weeks,” he pointed out in a media statement.
“Ever since I have brought the transactional issues to light, the management has treated me with hostility and contempt.”
According to GIIB’s Annual Report 2020, Wong was appointed as ED of GIIB on Feb 23 last year whereby he is responsible for managing the group’s finance and accounting operations.
Prior to joining GIIB, he was attached to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Singapore where he managed and provided advisory for business processes, IT auditing and security review. Overall, he has more than 10 years’ experience in business advisory and auditing.
His professional qualifications include Chartered Accountant accreditation in Malaysia and Singapore, a member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).
In a further affront to good governance, Wong revealed that GIIB’s executive chairman Tai Boon Wee has also directly requested him to approve certain payments although he is still suspended from duty.
“These irregular actions by the executive chairman should be a matter investigated by an internal audit committee and the relevant regulatory bodies,” insisted Wong.
“As a matter of fact, on April 7, I have responded to the show cause letter with full explanation and supporting evidence denying all allegations.”
Added Wong: “My fiduciary duty as ED and authorised signatory remains to the shareholders. This current set of actions can only be to silence my questions with regard to the suspicious transactions and to defame me in the eyes of the public, and as such, I reserve all my rights.”
On Monday (April 18), GIIB in a stock exchange filing said a three-member investigative committee has been established to assist the company’s to oversee the investigation process on allegations against Wong.
The committee will be chaired by independent non-executive director Yong Wei Sang alongside fellow INED Tee Jun Shern and Tai Qiyao (alternate director to Tai Boon Wee).
“Given that the investigative committee was only set up on April 18, it requires more time to seek proposals from independent audit firms to investigate the above matter,” noted GIIB.
At the close of Monday’s trading (April 18), GIIB was unchanged at 9 sen with 3.75 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM53 mil. – April 20, 2022
