Sarawak govt urged to disclose losses due to Serba Dinamik

The Sarawak government has been urged to reveal losses suffered due to its stake in Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd.

In a statement today, Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii said the government must also inform the public of plans to recoup those losses.

Yii (above) said the Sarawak government, through the State Financial Secretary Sarawak, is the second biggest shareholder while state-linked body Bintulu Development Authority is the 12th biggest shareholder.

Serba Dinamik, a large engineering firm, saw a major sell-off in May 2021 following the removal of KPMG as its auditor.

Its shares closed at RM1.61 on May 25 last year. At the time of writing, shares were trading at RM0.14, down 90 percent over the past year.

In view of Sarawak's massive stake in the company, Yii said there was a major public interest in the matter.

"This is a very serious issue and will have long-term implications. The charges against the executives are serious — ranging from providing false statements and sales figures to Bursa, with a maximum jail time of 10 years if convicted.

"When a public company provides false statements and sales figures, it could mislead thousands of investors on the financial health of the company and result in huge investment losses," he added.

Charges dropped

The Securities Commission had initially filed charges against some of Serba Dinamik's executives for providing false statements to Bursa Malaysia.

The Attorney-General's Chambers later dropped the charges, opting instead to impose the maximum penalty of RM3 million on the five executives who were charged.

Meanwhile, Yii said the decision to drop the charges, which carry a jail term, has sent the wrong message to the market and may impact investor confidence.

"Once foreign entities notice that such conduct is not dealt with seriously by the Malaysian authorities, they would lose confidence in listing themselves on the Malaysian market," he said. - Mkini