DiSa defends suitability of Lim Soon Hock to remain as independent director

DIGITAL security firm DiSa has said that Lim Soon Hock is suitable to remain as an independent director, in response to a bourse query on his involvement in several investigations.

In a Friday night filing, DiSa disclosed that it had received a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) following its redesignation of Mr Lim from a non-independent director to an independent one. The redesignation was done because DiSa had disposed of joint ventures in which Mr Lim had shareholdings.

Mr Lim has been involved in three investigations. First, in 2006, he was an independent director of Stratech Systems, which was investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) over a possible breach of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA). This case has been closed and no charges were brought against any director, DiSa said.

In 2015, China Fishery, where Mr Lim was also an independent director, was investigated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the CAD over a potential offence under the SFA. This was also concluded without any further action being taken against the company. None of the independent directors, including Mr Lim, were investigated.

Subsequently, in September 2018, the Polish authorities announced that they were investigating a potential breach by NetLeaders, a strategic partner of a firm called DasCoin (HK) Ltd where Mr Lim was an independent director.

On this, DiSa said: "Mr Lim represented that he was not the party to any alleged wrongdoings, had not been involved in any on-going investigation, and had since stepped down from the board of DasCoin."

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The firm added: "Over the years, Mr Lim has demonstrated his ability to constructively challenge the management's proposals and strategy, and exercise independent judgement on corporate affairs. In addition, Mr Lim has also provided his independence declaration to the board."

Shares of DiSa closed flat at S$0.002 on Friday.