KUALA LUMPUR: There was no red flag raised to Silver Bird Group Bhd’s board on financial irregularities in the bread manufacturer until the end of 2011, according to its former chairman Datuk Gan Khuan Poh. Gan told the court that while he was chairman, neither the company’s internal auditors nor external auditors had issued a letter to the management alerting it to the accounting irregularity issue that was brewing in Silver Bird until the third quarter of 2011. Silver Bird, whose substantial shareholders include Lembaga Tabung Haji, Berjaya Corp Bhd and Permodalan Felda Malaysia Bhd, was later renamed High-5 Consolidated Bhd and was taken private. When the financial irregularities were uncovered, Silver Bird announced in February 2012 that the stock exchange had categorised it as a financially distressed company under Practice Note 17. It then subsequently filed a RM125 million civil suit against Tan, Ching and Lai in August2012.

Source: The Edge Markets March 03, 2017 01:17 UTC