KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 3): NWP Holdings Bhd's managing director (MD) Datuk Seri Kee Soon Ling — who is being sued by the company's new management over alleged fraudulent transactions — has upped his stake in the company to 9.745% after acquiring 2.7 million shares on Jan 31 (Monday).
In a filing with the bourse, the timber products manufacturer said the the shares represent a 0.51% stake in the company and were acquired at 17.5 sen per share. Given this, the estimated cost for the stake purchased is RM472,500.
Following the latest acquisition, Kee now has 51.3 million shares in NWP.
To recap, it was announced on Jan 17 that Kee together with NWP's independent non-executive director Yew Onn Chong were sued by the company over alleged fraudulent transactions.
According to NWP on Jan 17, the new management of the group had discovered a series of fraudulent transactions allegedly undertaken by Kee and Yew from 2016 to 2021, which had caused NWP and its subsidiaries to suffer losses and damages.
The group alledged that Kee and Yew had permitted and/or authorised the fraudulent transactions to be recorded and captured in NWP's consolidated financial statements, which were submitted to Bursa Malaysia.
As a result, NWP is seeking RM6.5 million in damages from Kee and Yew, as well as an order to bar the two men from being directors of the group for five years, and restrain them from exercising the voting rights attached to the ordinary shares of the group.
NWP has also filed an application for an interim order against Kee and Yew.
NWP shares rose one sen or 5.56% at of 3.30pm to 19 sen, for a market value of RM95 million.