Magnus Energy: Independent director not involved in probes at previous firms

CATALIST-LISTED Magnus Energy Group has announced that its independent director and audit committee chairman, Lee Chong Ping, was not involved in investigations at his previous companies, the investment-holding company said in a regulatory filing late on Sunday night.

In response to queries by the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Magnus said that to Mr Lee's knowledge, there were no regulatory actions taken against China Sky Chemical Fibre Co following the release of a special audit report by Stone Forest Corporate Advisory (SFCA) in June 2013, till the end of his employment with China Sky.

Magnus also clarified that Mr Lee was the financial controller of China Sky from September 2012 to May 2015, and not its chief financial officer (CFO).

"Save where Mr Lee's name, designation and tenure with China Sky was stated factually under list of individuals and designations... and that he was mentioned to have provided SFCA with a requested document, there were no other mentions of Mr Lee in the special audit report," Magnus said.

It added that Mr Lee has confirmed that he has not been contacted by SGX for any discussions on his appointment as the financial controller of China Sky.

After a review of the available documentation provided by Mr Lee, independent checks and interview minutes related to his appointment, Magnus's sponsor is not aware of any circumstance that will render Mr Lee as an unsuitable candidate as an independent director of the company, the regulatory filing showed.

Among other things, SGX noted that in August 2016, China Sky announced the receipt of several legal proceedings by China Construction Bank against its subsidiaries. Magnus noted that Mr Lee had left China Sky by then and was not aware of and involved in these matters.

Separately, the Singapore bourse also highlighted that Mr Lee was appointed CFO of Transcorp Holdings between June and November 2015. SGX noted that on Dec 24, 2019, Transcorp announced that it has received a notice from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to provide financial information from 2014 to 2018, as well as the corporate email accounts of past employees.

The provision of the information was to assist CAD in ascertaining facts and circumstances of an ongoing investigation, the filing showed. On this, Magnus responded that Mr Lee was not involved in the investigation, and has not been contacted by CAD nor any authorities to provide information.

As Mr Lee is not involved in the CAD investigation, Magnus's nominating committee considered his professional qualifications and his past working experiences in various listed companies and "considered his skills to be complementary to the skills of the board", Magnus said.

Earlier this month, BT also reported that Magnus rebutted the suggestion that the directors it put forward will not take fees. The company is headed for a showdown between two slates of potential directors at an extraordinary general meeting to be held on Jan 9, 2020.

Shares in Magnus have been suspended from trading since Aug 23 following the release of an external report by Provenance Capital. Provenance Capital was hired by the firm to review selected transactions from 2013 to 2017, following queries by Magnus's former executive managing director, Charles Madhavan.