The Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday has ruled that the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) successfully proved its case against five individuals for perpetrating a scheme to defraud and causing wrongful losses to four public listed companies, contraventions under sections 179 and 317A of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).
The five individuals are Tey Por Yee (Tey), Lim Chye Guan (Lim), See Poh Yee (See), Francis Tan Hock Leong (Francis Tan) and Faizatul Ikmi binti Abdul Razak (Faizatul) (collectively referred to as the Defendants).
The four public listed companies affected at the material time were Nexgram Holdings Berhad, R&A Telecommunication Group Berhad, Asdion Berhad and Ire-Tex Corporation Berhad.
The SC had previously filed a civil suit against the Defendants on 29 November 2022 for allegedly perpetrating a scheme to defraud and/or causing wrongful losses valued at RM120.6 million to the four public listed companies.
Under section 179 of the CMSA, a person is prohibited from directly or indirectly using any scheme to defraud or engaging in any act, practice or course of business that operates as a fraud or deceit upon any person in connection with the subscription, purchase or sale of securities.
As for section 317A of the CMSA, a director or officer of a listed corporation is prohibited from doing any act with the intention of causing wrongful loss to the listed corporation.
In its claim, the SC alleged that between December 2013 and July 2014, Tey, Lim, See and Francis Tan, in their various capacities as directors and officers of the four public listed companies, siphoned out the proceeds of the companies’ fundraising exercises, while Faizatul abetted or furthered the siphoning.
The trial took place between 8 October 2025 and 29 April 2026, whereby the SC called 33 witnesses to prove its claim. The Defendants gave evidence on their own behalf, except for Francis Tan who had been declared bankrupt and did not appear in the proceedings.
In delivering the court’s decision yesterday, High Court Judge Dato’ Indera Mohd Arief Emran Arifin held that there was evidence that the Defendants took control of the four public listed companies and procured fundraising exercises, after which the proceeds were siphoned out from the said companies.
The Court declared that each Defendant contravened, amongst others, sections 179(a), 179(b), 317A and 370 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).
The High Court further ordered as follows:
- Defendants to pay a sum of RM100.6 million to the SC, pursuant to section 360 of the CMSA;
- Defendants to pay civil penalties amounting to RM2.65 million to the SC with the following sums: Tey to pay RM1 million, Lim to pay RM600,000 and See,Francis Tan and Faizatul to each pay RM350,000;
- Defendants to be barred from being a director of, or being concerned, or taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of any public listed company for a period 10 years from the date of judgment; and
- Defendants to pay total costs of RM500,000 to the SC.
To preserve the fruits of the judgment, the Court also ordered that the Defendants are restrained from dealing with their assets, until the sums due above have been paid in full. Previously, in order to prevent the dissipation of the Defendants’ assets pending the trial, the SC had successfully obtained an injunction from the High Court in 2022, restraining Tey, Lim, See and Faizatul from dealing with the monies in their respective bank accounts.
The SC did not seek an injunction against Francis Tan as he is an undischarged bankrupt. Tey, Lim, See and Faizatul then appealed, and the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision on 21 August 2024.
The SC was represented by its officers Ng Chian Huey, Mohd Izuddin Mohamad, Annarina Chacko Jacob, Adibah Saiful Bahri and Caysseny Tean Boonsiri together with SC's external counsel Christopher Leong, Janet Chai Pei Ying, Calvin Wong Wai Hou and Jason Kok Jia Qi from Messrs Chooi & Company. Tey, Lim, See and Faizatul were represented by counsel Dato’ C. Vignesh Kumar whilst the solicitor on record was Messrs B H Lawrence & Co.
This decision by the High Court reinforces the accountability of directors and officers entrusted with managing public listed companies. The SC remains committed to ensuring that misconduct involving the abuse of corporate structures, misappropriation of fundraising proceeds and conduct that causes wrongful losses to listed corporations will not be tolerated.
