KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): Datasonic Group Bhd clarified today that it is not involved in the corruption charge faced by its deputy managing director Chew Ben Ben in relation to a ship chartering contract.
In a filing today, Datasonic referred to the legal charge against Chew over an alleged bribe of RM321,350 paid last year in relation to a subcontract for ship chartering involving Pristine Offshore Sdn Bhd, where Chew is a 49% shareholder.
Shares in Datasonic, which has rallied in recent weeks, fell as much as 10.5 sen on the news. The group halted trading of its shares between 2.30pm and 3.30pm today.
“Datasonic and its subsidiaries are not involved in the said subcontracting whatsoever, either directly or indirectly,” it said in a filing.
“Neither has the company benefited in whatever form from the said workboat chartering accommodation business.
“The above-mentioned charge is strictly related to Mr Chew’s private investment company in the workboat chartering accommodation business, which is not related to any of Datasonic’s businesses,” it added.
Chew, the company said, has already pleaded not guilty to the charge under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, and is already on bail and back to work at Datasonic.
“It is business as usual at Datasonic Group. The business operations are not affected and running as usual at Datasonic Group,” it said.
Shares in Datasonic recouped some of their intraday loss to close at 56 sen today — still down eight sen or 12.5% — which valued the group at RM1.5 billion. It was the most active stock on Bursa Malaysia today, with 45.83 million shares traded. Year to date (YTD), the counter has gained 6.67%.