This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 25, 2017 - December 31, 2017

Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim

Group Managing Director
Supermax Corp Bhd

THAI, 57, is the group managing director of Supermax, one of the largest rubber glove makers in the world. He and his wife, Datin Seri Tan Bee Geok, founded the company in 1987.

Thai has been a member of Supermax’s board since June 2000.

He sat on the board of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council from 2010 to 2015 and was trustee of the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association from 2013 to 2016.

To recap, the prosecution by the SC can be traced back to December 2014, when the regulator, apart from charging Thai, also charged his wife for communicating non-public information as APLI’s group executive director to her sister, Tan Bee Hong, between Oct 23 and Oct 31, 2007.

The SC said Bee Hong disposed of 350,000 APLI shares held in her account while in possession of the said non-public information on Oct 31, 2007.

So far, there have been no updates on the charges against Bee Hong and Bee Geok.

As for Thai, he was convicted for communicating non-public information between Oct 26 and Oct 29, 2007 to Tiong, who was convicted on two counts of disposing of 6.21 million APLI shares via accounts belonging to his mother-in-law and his mother while in possession of the same non-public information.

At the time of the commission of the offence, Tiong was also a licensed intraday trader with a stockbroking company.

The non-public information communicated from Thai to Tiong was related to the audit adjustments proposed by APLI’s auditors — which resulted in the company reporting a higher loss for the financial year ended June 30, 2007 (FY2007) compared with the previously reported unaudited fourth-quarter results for the same financial year — and APLI being classified as a Practice Note 17 company.

APLI made announcements on these matters to Bursa on Oct 31, 2007.

At the time, the company’s auditor had proposed to report higher losses amounting to RM21.1 million for FY2007, from the unaudited loss of RM4.5 million.

In response to Thai’s insider trading conviction, Supermax said in a statement that it is business as usual for the company. The group also said a stay of execution for Thai’s punishment had been granted by the court, and an appeal had been filed against the conviction and sentencing.

Supermax chairman Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said the group and its board of directors are “strongly behind” Thai.

“The board and company stand strongly behind Datuk Seri Stanley Thai in these trying times,” Rafidah said in a statement, adding that Thai’s charge was related only to APLI and not Supermax.

Subsequently, Supermax had in early December announced that Thai had relinquished his post as its managing director on Nov 24. The group, however, applied for leave from the court to allow Thai to be reappointed as a director or to act in such a capacity for the group.

According to a provision in the Companies Act 2016, Thai may be allowed to be a director with the leave of the court even if he has been disqualified due to a conviction.

Meanwhile, Supermax has appointed Thai’s daughter Cecile Jaclyn Thai, 29, and nephew Tan Chee Keong as executive directors, with their appointments to take effect from Jan 2 next year.

It is learnt that both Cecile and Chee Keong have been groomed to take their places as board members as part of the group’s succession planning, and that Chee Keong has been with the group for 17 years.

Cecile is currently the CEO of Aveo Vision, a division of Supermax Healthcare Inc, while Chee Keong, 39, is Supermax Healthcare’s executive vice-president.

In a newsletter dated Dec 8, the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group highlights that the conviction and sentencing of Thai indicates once again that “the long arm of the law will one day catch up with misdeeds”.

“Thai’s conviction relates to his alleged activities with APLI way back in 2007 when he was CEO. The fact that a decade has passed is inconsequential. What matters is that the regulators deemed the weight of evidence sufficient to warrant a move to incarcerate him and to perhaps send a meaningful message to the wider market,” it said. 

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