KUALA LUMPUR (July 31): KUB Malaysia Bhd group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zainal Abidin Salleh has resigned, barely three months after occupying the post. This follows allegations of falsified academic qualification.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, KUB said Zainal Abidin, 52, has submitted his resignation, citing personal reasons, and the board of directors has accepted it. He will serve a three-month notice period under the terms of his contract.

According to KUB, a statement was made by a shareholder of the group at its annual general meeting on June 16, 2015 on the alleged falsification of Zainal Abidin's academic qualification.

"The (Zainal Abidin's) resignation was submitted before the board of directors was able to establish a Board Executive Committee to look into the allegations made by the said shareholder," said KUB.

"In light of the said resignation, the board has resolved that it serves no purpose to continue with the investigation," it added.

KUB, which is 23.62%-owned by Ministry of Finance Inc, named Zainal Abidin as the group CEO on April 17 this year, replacing Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Wan Ahmad, 61, who had left the position in November last year after his contract expired.

Prior to the appointment, Zainal Abiddin was the group chief operating officer (COO). 

Zainal Abidin has been with the KUB group since July 2010 when he was the general manager of agro business sector. Since then, he has held a variety of senior positions in KUB Group including as the executive director (ED) and CEO of KUB Agro Holdings Group Sdn Bhd, as well as the ED and COO for both KUB Sepadu Sdn Bhd and KUB Maju Mill Sdn Bhd.

Zainal Abidin holds a Bachelor of Science (Agribusiness) from Universiti Putra Malaysia and a Diploma in Agriculture Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

KUB (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 1.5) shares closed unchanged at 38 sen today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM211.46 million. 

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)