Former Noble directors who were issued ‘stern warnings’ named by Acra

THE 2 former directors of Noble Group Limited’s (NGL) subsidiary, Noble Resources International (NRI), who were issued “stern warnings” by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) have been identified as Neil Timothy Dhar and Timothy Martin Eyre.

An Acra spokesperson confirmed this late on Wednesday (Aug 31) when contacted by The Business Times.

Dhar and Eyre, who were previously not named, received the warnings from Acra for failing to prepare and table annual financial statements that complied with prescribed accounting standards in Singapore.

This came as part of Acra’s conclusion of joint investigations with the Monetary Authority of Singapore into NGL, which resulted in a S$12.6 million civil penalty imposed on the commodities company for publishing misleading information in its financial statements.

The outcome was deemed a “slap on the wrist” and “unsurprising” by Iceberg Research’s Arnaud Vagner in a note published online on Aug 29, where Acra was also called out for not naming the 2 NRI directors.

Wrote Vagner: “Acra issued ‘stern warnings’ to 2 former directors. That sounds scary. However, they refused to reveal their names because… it could hurt their feelings?”

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Dhar and Eyre were among the 6 NRI directors (as at 2016) listed in the blog post alongside Jeffrey Alam, Will Randall, Jeff Frase and Paul Jackaman.

Dhar was said to be a co-manager of NGL’s coal business together with Randall, while Eyre was described by Vagner as “a lawyer”.