KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): Practice Note 17 company Perak Corp Bhd has appointed businessman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Manaf as its new chairman effective today.

He replaces Mohd Ariff Yeop Ishak, 55, who had served as independent and non-executive chairman of Perak Corp since August 2018.

Before venturing into business, Abdul Rashid,73, was a senior partner of a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur until his retirement in August 2006.

Abdul Rashid is the founder director of Eco World Development Group Bhd and is also presently the group chairman of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd and Salcon Bhd.

Prior to this, he was also the chairman of the board of S P Setia Bhd from 1996 until 2012.

Perak Corp also appointed Tan Sri Kunasingam Sittampalam as its independent and non-executive director.

Kunasingam, 67, is a co-founder and executive chairman of HSS Engineering Bhd. He has also accumulated over 40 years of experience within the engineering and project management service market.

Meanwhile, the group also announced the departure of five independent and non-executive directors, namely Khairul Anuar Musa, Chong Zhemin, Mohamed Azni Mohamed Ali, Hatim Musa and Ng Shy Ching.

All of them resigned "to pursue other interests", according to the group's filings.

Perak Corp's share price was last traded at 13 sen.