Ananda Krishnan is dead, review of trustee Chan Chee Beng's position long overdue, action by regulators in Malaysia should no longer be forestalled

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Photo from 1959 of the Melbourne University SRC. Ananda standing at far left.He was presidnet of the SRC while at Melbourne University,at the height of the White Australia Policy

Billionaire Ananda Krishnan's death  raises questions of succession, and in particular about control over his assets, nominally held via a series of trusts. In Malaysia his  trustees and   managers have been regarded as above the law, given Ananda's standing, and given the inextricable link between politics  and business in  Malaysia. Among them is Chan Chee Beng, whose position as trustee has been intenable for quite some time. Given Ananda's death , Chee Beng departure should follow. 

TO BE READ WITH 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Usaha Tegas' Chan Chee Beng: Are there trust law issues given PanOcean Management Limited's position as trustee ,and Chan's regulatory settlement for insider trading in Maxis warrants, which are trust assets.

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The following are excerpts from the Bumi Armada 2018  Annual Report: 

Chan Chee Beng has more than 39 years of experience in general and financial management, investment banking and accounting including stints with Ernst & Young and Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd prior to joining the Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd (“UTSB”) Group in 1992 as Head of Corporate Finance. He is currently a Director of UTSB Management Sdn Bhd.

Usaha Tegas Sdn. Bhd. (“UTSB”) is a party related to the Company by virtue of its substantial equity interest in Objektif Bersatu Sdn. Bhd. (“OBSB”), a substantial shareholder of the Company. The ultimate holding company of UTSB is PanOcean Management Limited (“PanOcean”). PanOcean is the trustee of a discretionary trust, the beneficiaries of which are members of the family of Ananda Krishnan Tatparanandam (“TAK”) and foundations including those for charitable purposes. Although PanOcean and TAK are deemed to have an interest in the shares of the Company through UTSB’s deemed interest in OBSB, they do not have any economic or beneficial interest in such shares as such interest is held subject to the terms of such discretionary trust.

A director of a wholly-owned subsidiary of  a trustee may  well have duties to the trust and its beneficiaries that are subject of legislation in  the jurisdiction of incorporation, and the jurisdictions in which it conducts its business. 

These legal questions arise given Chan's regulatory settlement for insider trading in Maxis shares, which are trust assets. 

TO BE READ WITH 

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Chan Chee Beng remains a director of a number of listed and private companies despite a "regulatory settlement" with the SC with regards insider trading of Maxis warrants:Is the leniency 1MDB related? .

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Chan Chee Beng

Chan Chee Beng is at present the man who runs Ananda Krishnan's Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd.

He has since 1992 been the person in charge of all corporate finance matters. He is more than likely to have been involved if not been in charge of, the Tanjong-1MDB power station deals.

In 2015 the Securities Commission Malaysia made the following announcement.

REGULATORY SETTLEMENTS IN 2015

Regulatory Settlement with Chan Chee Beng

On 15 December 2015, Chan Chee Beng entered into a settlement with the SC in the sum of 

RM1,944,438.78 when he agreed without admission or denial of liability, to settle a claim that the SC

 was proposing to institute against him for communicating inside information contrary to section 8

89E(3) of the Securities Industry Act 1983 (“SIA”) to his late wife Yeoh Phaik Choo who then traded  in the call warrants of Maxis Communications Berhad (“Maxis”) between 23 April 2007 and 27 April 2007. 

The information is related to the notification from Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd (UTSB), a substantial shareholder of Maxis that UTSB and its affiliates intended to launch a voluntary general offer through a special purpose vehicle for all the ordinary shares of Maxis, as set out in an announcement made by Maxis to Bursa Malaysia on 30 April 2007. 

Following this announcement, Maxis further announced on 3 May 2007 the details of the conditional take-over offer including the offer price of RM15.60 for each offer share. The settlement was reached following a letter of demand sent by the SC pursuant to its civil enforcement powers under the securities laws, where the sum Chan was required to disgorge was equivalent to 1.5 times the difference between the price at which Yeoh acquired the call warrants and the price at which the call warrants would have been likely to have been acquired at the time of the acquisition, if the information had been generally available. 

The monies recovered will be applied in accordance with section 90A(7) of the SIA. Chan at the material time was an executive director of UTSB as well as a non-executive director of Maxis.

The above would normally mean that the person or persons involved would be forever barred from holding any sort of position of authority in especially companies listed on the BursaMalaysia, or which control them, Chan remains in many of these;the questions does arise as to whether his too is a case of a 1MDB linked person being given special treatment by the BN and now PH governments.

The answers to question of why, what for and to whose benefit are questions that ought to be made public immediately.

END 

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 9:55 PM 

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 7:35 PM