KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 5): The independent committee of Tanjung Offshore Bhd has presented its findings, which had resulted in the suspensions of three senior company officials last month, to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today.

In a statement, Tanjung said its independent non-executive director Shahrizal Hisham Abdul Halim laid before the SC, various complaints arising from the committee’s findings. The company’s allegations involved possible conflicts of interests and breaches of fiduciary duty by two officials, namely 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 and its shareholders, and will pursue these matters to the end,” said Shahrizal, who is one of the three members of the committee.

Sabri and Tan have been suspended from their paid, executive positions, but remain directors of Tanjung, pending the completion of further inquiries. Sabri is an executive director of Tanjung, while Tan is non-independent non-executive director.

The committee was formed on Jan 8, 2015, by the board of Tanjung to conduct an internal review, following speculative media articles and purported complaints to the authorities against the company.

Its findings and recommendations had been presented to the board on Jan 28, 2015, and was accepted by a majority of its members.

The complaints lodged with the SC today, are related to two transactions — namely 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 has alleged in the statement.

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

Tanjung (fundamental:1.95; valuation: 2.4) closed unchanged at 47.5 sen today, with a market capitalisation of RM176.72 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)