Companies Act must be amended now to ensure real independence of directors

I REFER to the BT article "SGX to inspect over 550 listed firms on governance code" (Oct 13).

This is a matter of great concern as there was a report in December 2014 that said some Singapore-listed companies might miss the 2017 deadline to attain complete board of director independence.

If this fundamental independence requirement can be breached, we can say that any hope of full compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance by all public listed companies will remain a dream unless the Singapore Exchange takes firm enforcement action.