English

Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad recently acted against candy manufacturer, Khee San Berhad by reprimanding the Company and issuing a fine of RM885,000 against nine of its directors.

The Company was designated as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) counter in November 2021 after one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries was placed under judicial management.

The announcement of classification as a PN17-affected issuer came after Khee San triggered the suspended criteria of PN17 back in July 2020. It was not classified as an affected listed issuer then due to Bursa Malaysia’s COVID-19 relief measures.

Bursa Malaysia Securities in a statement said the Company was publicly reprimanded for breaches of disclosing default in payments, solvency declarations and corporate governance (CG). 

It is always sensitive when it comes to discussing non-executive directors’ remuneration. Sometimes the board and major shareholders will have different ideas as to what is fair remuneration compared to minority shareholders.

There have been cases where the board and the major shareholder did not see eye to eye when it comes to increases in directors’ remuneration. The major shareholder defeated the resolution for the increase in remuneration. Even different groups of minority shareholders may have opposing views as to what is fair remuneration.

This is because we are traversing an area laden with much subjectivity.  Effort and hard work must be recognised, and it is no different when it comes to directors’ efforts and hard work. Workmen should be rewarded a fair remuneration for an honest day’s work. No one should begrudge that entitlement.