KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): The defence counsels representing two former executives of Silver Bird Group Bhd have filed an application to strike out charges against the duo for allegedly furnishing Bursa Malaysia with false information.
The Sessions Court today fixed Aug 21 for the hearing of the application. The trial, however, will continue tomorrow before Sessions Court judge Hasbullah Adam with further testimony from the prosecution witnesses.
For this case, the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) charged former managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook and former chief executive director Derec Ching Siew Cheong with seven and eight counts respectively of furnishing Bursa Malaysia with falsified statements contained in Silver Bird’s eight unaudited quarterly financial accounts for the financial years ended Oct 31, 2010 and 2011.
Tan was represented by counsels Datuk K Kumaraendran and Teh See Khoon, while Datuk N Sivananthan and Jasmine Cheong appeared for Ching.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Hafiz Mohd Yusof led the prosecution on behalf of the SC.
In the striking out application, the defence counsels argued that since the Court of Appeal had, in another case, established that Tan and Ching had no knowledge of the forged documents, the charges in this case should also be struck out.
On June 10, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision to acquit Tan and Ching from all 134 charges of cheating and purportedly using forged documents to cheat Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) of close to RM67.4 million.
The duo stood trial before Sessions Court Judge Mohd Nasir Nordin, during which the defence were called, but they were later acquitted as the defence had raised reasonable doubt in 2016.
The High Court dismissed the prosecution's appeal and the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Silver Bird — which was delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2014 — was known for its "High 5" brand bread loaf and "Silverbird" brand cake. Following a court order to vacate its operating premises, it ceased operations in June 2016.
To recap, in February 2013, the bread maker made a surprising announcement on a RM112 million hole in its finances — which later turned out to be RM297 million.
When the financial irregularities were uncovered, Silver Bird announced that the stock exchange had categorised it as a financially distressed company under Practice Note 17.
The group then removed both Tan and Ching from its board of directors shortly after.
If convicted, both Tan and Ching face up to 10 years in jail and a maximum fine of RM3 million.
In its heyday, Silver Bird’s major shareholders included pilgrim fund Lembaga Tabung Haji (22.19%), Berjaya Corp Bhd (20.53%), Koperasi Permodalan Felda Malaysia Bhd (12.7%) and venture capital fund CVC Ltd (9.07%).