Allied Tech receives 2 letters calling for EGM to remove CEO, chairman as directors
Vivienne Tay
ALLIED Technologies has received 2 letters dated May 9 from existing shareholder Lin Tah Hwa and executive director Kenneth Low to convene one or more extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) for several board changes.
Lin and Low have proposed the removal of 2 directors – independent non-executive director and chairman Chin Chee Choon and chief executive Clement Leow – and the appointment of 3 new directors.
They are also looking to remove any director who may be appointed between May 9 and the proposed EGMs, the precision engineering company said in a bourse filing posted on Thursday (May 12).
The 3 new directors proposed are Lim Chee San, Davy J Goh and Choo Weng Wah. Choo has been proposed as an executive director, while the other 2 would be independent directors.
Lin owns 168 million shares of Allied Tech and Low owns 100 million shares, representing a total of 15.14 per cent of total shares outstanding.
The letters come nearly after a month after the release of a special audit report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers Risk Services (PwC), which was engaged to examine developments surrounding Allied Tech's missing funds held in escrow by law firm JLC Advisors.
The auditors found failure on the part of the independent directors in safeguarding the company's interest on several counts, potential undisclosed interested person transactions, private contracts, and transactions accomplished via a supposed “round-tripping” exercise.
The special audit also found that the version of events told by Jeffrey Ong, the lawyer charged with cheating and other offences in the case, appears to be "plausible explanations" for the gaps in the story told by those involved in the company.
Low was arrested in April last year and named as the co-accused in 5 of the charges that Ong, who is in remand, is facing.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
