KUALA LUMPUR (March 4): Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has publicly reprimanded Bertam Alliance Bhd and slapped total fines of RM225,000 on its five directors for breaching listing rules.

The five directors are Managing Director Lim Nyuk Foh (RM100,000), Executive Director Chiew Boon Chin (RM50,000), Senior Independent Non-Executive Chairman and Audit Committee member Datuk Mohamed Arsad Sehan (RM25,000), Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chairman Lim Shaw Keong @ Alfred Lim (RM25,000) and Non-Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee member Koo Jenn Man (RM25,000).

In a statement today, Bursa said Bertam was publicly reprimanded for disclosure and first announcement (FA) breaches.

The company had contravened “paragraph 9.19(19)(a)(ii) of the Main LR for failing to make an immediate announcement of the winding-up order dated Nov 30, 2017 (the Winding-Up Order) against its subsidiary, Bertam Development Sdn Bhd. (BDSB) and the announcement of the Winding-Up Order on Dec 11 2017 did not include the information contained in Part C of Appendix 9A”.

Bursa said Bertam had only announced that the High Court had refused to set aside the winding-up petition and allowed the winding-up on Dec 11 2017, and on Dec 22 2017 announced the detailed contents of the winding-up order as required under Part C of Appendix 9A.

It had also committed “breach of paragraph 8.04(3)(b) of the Main LR read together with paragraph 4.1(a) of Practice Note 17 (PN17) for failing to make the First Announcement on an immediate basis upon the winding-up of BDSB on Nov 30 2017.

“The winding-up order had triggered the prescribed criteria in paragraph 2.1(c) of PN17 as BDSB was a major subsidiary and the total assets of BDSB represented 82% of Bertam Group’s total assets as at Sept 30 2017. However, Bertam only made the First Announcement on April 4 2018,” noted Bursa.

It said the finding of the breaches and imposition of the above penalties on Bertam and its directors were made under paragraph 16.19 of the Main Listing Requirements (LR) upon completion of due process and after taking into consideration all facts and circumstances of the matter including the materiality of the breaches, impact of the breaches to Bertam and shareholders/investors and the roles, responsibilities, knowledge and conduct of the directors.