Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 29, 2016.

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The audit and investigation led by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department into Wah Seong Corp Bhd’s indirect wholly-owned unit PPI Industries Sdn Bhd that began in end-February, have been concluded with no penalties imposed after four months.

“Hence, there were no penalties imposed and no action being taken against PPI. The matter is duly resolved and closed,” said Wah Seong in a bourse filing yesterday.

As such, Wah Seong said PPI’s bank accounts and assets that were temporarily frozen to facilitate investigations have been “unconditionally released” pursuant to a revocation order dated June 10, 2016 and a June 13, 2016 letter from the customs.

Wah Seong said the documents were received on Monday (June 27) and that PPI’s business operation has returned to normal and is now ongoing as usual.

Recall that The Edge Financial Daily reported on Feb 25 that more than 10 steel companies had been raided by customs officers on Feb 23 and 24, and that the companies that were raided were mainly those involved in the importation of steel pipes or hot-rolled coils (HRCs).

A day after the report, Hiap Teck Venture Bhd confirmed the raid. It said customs had taken custody of certain documents of two of its subsidiaries and frozen a bank account of one of the two subsidiaries “for purposes of audit and investigation”.

Then on Feb 29, the daily reported that the Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (Misif) had lodged a complaint with the ministry of finance (MoF) on concerns its members raised relating to the high handed manner in which the industry-wide audit was conducted. At the time, Misif said the probe was under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and that the audit had raided 12 of its members, six of which were public-listed companies. Hiap Teck aside, the five other affected listed companies were Southern Steel Bhd, Ann Joo Resources Bhd, Wah Seong, Amalgamated Industrial Steel Bhd and Prestar Resources Bhd.

Following Misif’s statement, the five separately confirmed that they too had been visited by the customs, with certain shipping and accounting records relating to the importation of HRCs taken into custody.

In confirming the raids in a bourse filing on Feb 29, Wah Seong had said PPI’s business premise in Penang had been subjected to what it termed “steel-related industry-wide audit visits” by the customs, the police, the MoF, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers on Feb 23.

It had also said then that RMCD had taken custody of certain records and documents of PPI’s, while some of PPI’s bank accounts had been temporarily frozen to facilitate the customs’ audit and investigation.

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