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SGX reprimands Catalist-listed Oriental Group and 8 individuals

This article is more than 12 months old

Reprimand follows breaches of listing rules by the steel trader and manufacturer

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has reprimanded Catalist-listed Oriental Group, as well as eight connected individuals - a current director, six past directors including its former chairman and chief executive officer, and a former group financial controller - for misconduct related to three fund-raising activities and unauthorised transactions.

The reprimand follows several breaches of listing rules by the company and the individuals, including misleading and inaccurate announcements on the fund-raising exercises, unauthorised corporate guarantees extended in favour of interested persons and/or unauthorised interested person transactions, said SGX on Friday.

As a result, Singapore-listed companies will need to get the Singapore Exchange Regulation's (SGX RegCo) nod before any of these individuals are appointed as a director or to the management team.

Those who have earned the rebuke of the regulator include the troubled firm's former non-executive chairman Wu Dingrong, former executive director and former CEO Lee Wan Sing, former executive director Sun Lu, former non-executive director Richard Ong Wee Chuan, and former independent directors Tan Song Kwang and Koh Choon Kong.

SPECIAL AUDITOR

Oriental's present independent director Chua Hung Meng and former group financial controller Lee Ong have also been admonished.

The regulator said the company had appointed a special auditor and an independent reviewer to review these "irregularities" that took place in Singapore and China.

Details of the review were disclosed in an announcement in early December last year.

The listing rule breaches relate to several transactions undertaken by the steel trader and manufacturer that were announced between 2012 and 2015, including two share placement exercises, an issue of convertible loan notes, unauthorised corporate guarantees and interested person transaction as well as backdating of invoices for IT equipment.

In the light of the 2013 internal audit findings, the regulator said the company's board and audit committee had failed to take the necessary steps to ensure adequacy of the group's internal controls.

SGX RegCo has also referred the breaches to the appropriate authorities.

Oriental Group is currently under judicial management and the counter has been suspended since March 2016.

- THE STRAITS TIMES

BUSINESS & FINANCE