KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS), which suspended its group chief financial officer (CFO) last month, has now appointed KPMG Management & Risk Consulting Sdn Bhd (KPMG MRC) as the independent consultant to review the financial management of certain investments and contracts.

On May 5, the group announced it had suspended group CFO Syed Hizam Alsagoff for 30 days to facilitate investigations into allegations of possible financial mismanagement in relation to the company's investments and operations.

Prior to that, on April 22, CMS deputy group chairman Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib said he was seeking a leave of absence from all his positions in the group, as the group launched an investigation into allegations of conflict of interest involving him and former CMS chief information officer Karl Vink @ Khalid Abdullah.

At the time, the board of CMS also said it had reported to the authorities of the allegations of conflict of interest involving Mahmud Abu Bekir and Karl Vink, and said that the allegations were received through the group’s whistleblower channel.

In its latest filing today, CMS said its board has resolved to extend Syed Hizam's suspension by 60 days to accommodate the duration required for KPMG MRC to carry out its work and report its findings to the board.

CMS’s shares settled two sen or 1.23% lower at RM1.60 today, valuing the company at RM1.72 billion. The counter dropped 21.18% from RM2.03 over the past month.