This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 17, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Menang Corp (M) Bhd’s former managing director (MD) Datuk Eddie Shun Leong Kwong, claimed in a trial yesterday that former deputy MD Toh May Fook had his own agenda in appointing a financial consultant to look into the group’s land transactions dating as far back as 10 to 12 years ago.

“If Toh wants to go into 10, 12 years of transactions, obviously, there is an agenda,” Shun testified as one of the witnesses in the trial between Menang and its former senior group accountant Ng Kim Foong. Menang, which is involved in property development and hire purchase services, has sued Ng for releasing the company’s information for a report on the land transactions dating back as far as 2005.

Shun said that Toh was hired as deputy MD and should not have brought in an auditor without the approval of the board of directors and himself. When asked about what the agenda was, Shun said it was to “push me out”.

Back in July 2016, Toh was removed as the group’s deputy MD, only three months after he took on the role in April that year. He was re-designated as non-executive director and eventually retired in November the same year.

An investigative committee was set up on Aug 26 that year to review Toh’s conduct as a director. Pending the outcome of the investigation, Toh was suspended as a director on Aug 25. On Sept 1, Menang explained to Bursa that Toh had appointed a financial consultant to look into specific land transactions way back to 2005 without the knowledge nor approval of the group MD and the board.

The Edge had reported that in July last year, Shun was charged with questionable land dealings involving two companies — The Continuum Sanctuary Commercial Sdn Bhd and Menang’s wholly-owned Menang Development (M) Sdn Bhd — with the complaint made by Toh.

Toh had clarified that he asked an accounting firm to independently review the land transactions after discovering some questionable deals. After he was removed as deputy MD, Toh had remained a substantial shareholder of Menang with a 12.5% stake as at Sept 29, 2017.

As for Ng, Shun told the court yesterday that she voluntarily opted for early retirement on July 19, 2016, after Toh was removed.

Shun denied that Ng had been forced into early retirement after providing information to the financial consultant to conduct the review as instructed by Toh at that time.

The hearing was adjourned to May 11.