KUALA LUMPUR: The independent committee of Tanjung Offshore Bhd presented its findings, which resulted in the suspension of three senior company officials last month, to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) yesterday.

In a statement, Tanjung Offshore said its independent non-executive director Shahrizal Hisham Abdul Halim had laid before the SC various complaints arising from the committee’s findings. The company’s allegations involved possible conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty by two officials, Muhammad Sabri Ab Ghani and Tan Sri Tan Kean Soon.

“The independent committee is carrying out its obligations to the board of directors, to Tanjung Offshore and its shareholders, and will pursue these matters to the end,” said Shahrizal, who is one of the three members of the committee.

Muhammad Sabri and Tan have been suspended from their paid, executive positions but remain directors of Tanjung  Offshore pending the completion of further inquiries. Muhammad Sabri is an executive director of Tanjung Offshore while Tan is a non-independent non-executive director. The committee was formed on Jan 8, 2015, by the Tanjung Offshore board to conduct an internal review following speculative media articles and purported complaints to the authorities against the company.

Its findings and recommendations were presented to the board on Jan 28, 2015, and accepted by a majority of the members. The complaints lodged with the SC yesterday related to two transactions. They are a proposed asset injection by Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific Ltd which was mutually terminated in December 2014 and a construction work request (CWR) project worth about RM250 million.

“Sabri and Tan’s possible conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty may have resulted in, among others, loss of business opportunity and potential income stream related to the Bourbon deal, and disadvantageous and lopsided terms for the CWR contract under negotiation which could result in potential future loss for [the company],” Tanjung Offshore alleged in the statement. 

Aside from Muhammad Sabri and Tan, Tanjung Offshore had also suspended Datuk Harzani Azmi as a paid adviser to the company for alleged procedural breaches and lapses in internal controls found by the committee.

Tanjung Offshore (fundamental: 1.95; valuation: 2.4) closed unchanged at 47.5 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM176.72 million. 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 6, 2015.