Iceberg does not deserve the legitimacy it is being given

I REFER to the report "Iceberg casts doubts on Noble review move" (BT, July 22) and the whole sorry saga of Noble, whose troubles began only a few months back with what I would call the ignoble Iceberg.

Ignoble is defined as "not honourable in character or purpose" and that is exactly how Iceberg has behaved from day one, regardless of how the Noble saga eventually ends. To this day, no one really knows who is Iceberg. The situation is no different from shooting someone in the back.

Out of nowhere and still incognito, Iceberg has positioned itself as judge, jury and executioner of all. Beyond backstabbing Noble publicly while knowing the consequences of that for a public-listed company, it now presumes to prejudge the work of PwC, a well-respected international public accounting firm.

Pity the poor shareholders of Noble whom Iceberg seems to have total disregard for. And many writers who ought to know better have penned much, with different (presumably positive) objectives, only to hurt the share price further.

I would ask the following who have written why they gave, and persist in giving, Iceberg the attention it craves:

1. Michael Dee, who declared that his open letter was to serve Noble shareholders. Given his esteemed background, he must surely know that his letter served only to confer stature to Iceberg.

2. Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen. With his background, his questions on the rules on independent directors are understandable - but why now, since the perceived problems have existed for many years?

3. The Press. BT calls it "Iceberg Research" without any qualifier, again bestowing upon it a stature of legitimacy. I venture to ask why continue to report the allegations of Iceberg at all?

Lastly, I question the silence of the Singapore Exchange. Shouldn't SGX make its stance explicit as to how it weighs the statements made by Noble (a company on its much-touted main board) and those by Iceberg?

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