Darco appoints Kong Chee Keong as new CEO

Singapore

DARCO Water Technologies has appointed Kong Chee Keong as an executive director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, with effect from Sept 1, the company said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

He will be replacing Poh Kok Hong, who was terminated from his roles as an executive director and CEO of the company from Aug 30. Mr Poh will stay on in the company until Feb 28 next year due to his notice period of six months.

In a separate bourse filing from Monday, Mr Poh noted there were unresolved differences in opinions on material matters between him and the board of directors.

These include the Gaoyi project, which he said does not seem viable, the Nambo project, which he is "of the personal view that the reversal option should have been exercised earlier", and the Wuhan Kaidi (WHKD) whistleblower report, which he said the company "could have acted with more decisive measures sooner".

In the report, the whistleblower said the company's executive chairman had instructed WHKD's head of finance to modify certain key financial figures for its FY2019 financial statements, which in turn were submitted to a bank in China that had extended banking facilities to WHKD.

Mr Poh added he has "reservations" regarding the recent appointment of the new executive director, who he did not name.

Mr Kong will step down as a member of the audit committee, the nominating committee and the remuneration committee following the appointment.

Shares of Darco last traded at 18.6 Singapore cents on July 30.