PETALING JAYA: Sabah gold mining company Bahvest Resources Bhd has been embroiled in a boardroom battle over the last two months, with the dust once again looking ready to settle.
The group’s turmoil was reflected in its share price movement today, reaching a high of 20.5 sen at 3.55pm today (41% gain) before retreating to close 10.7% higher at 16 sen.
Five shareholders today withdrew their lawsuit which had sought to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove and replace three directors of Bahvest.
The five shareholders were Marlex Trading Ltd, Innosabah Capital Holdings Sdn Bhd, Lim Nyuk Sang, Yong Fen Yoo and Chong Tzu Khen.
The group no longer plans to proceed with the EGM they had demanded to be held on May 25.
Bahvest had received the originating summons on May 9, which was intended to compel the company to hand over its record of depository for the purpose of issuance of notice of the proposed EGM.
Interestingly, the summons was received after Bahvest had announced it would hold the EGM and table the resolutions put forth by the five shareholders, albeit on June 13 instead of May 25.
Suit dropped after MACC raid
The withdrawal is hot off the trail of a raid conducted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bahvest, Wullersdorf Resources Sdn Bhd, on May 16.
In a filing on May 17, Bahvest said MACC conducted a raid of Wullersdorf’s mine at around 10am, and subsequently its Tawau office at around 12pm.
During the raid, several key management figures of Wullersdorf and Bahvest – namely CEO Lo Fui Ming, executive director Lo Teck Yong, CFO Chong Khing Chung, COO Shahrol Azuan and assistant general manager Brando Pang Tze Ching – were detained and remanded.
Fui Ming and Teck Yong were two of the three directors whom the five shareholders had sought to remove. The third director was non-independent and non-executive chairman Kamal Bilal.
The three replacement candidates were Chong Tzu Khen, Law Ngia Meng and Chong Mee Fah.
Fui Ming had ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the company on May 11. As of May 17, he held a 3.3% stake compared to 13.18% he had prior to May 11.
All of them were brought before the magistrates’ court in Tawau, in which MACC had sought to extend the remand against them for another seven days.
“During the course of hearing, MACC also informed the court that their action was precipitated by a complaint lodged to MACC and they are investigating a case of cheating relating to inaccurate gold production figures,” said Bahvest.
The directors were remanded until May 19.
At the close of trade, Bahvest’s share price was up 1.5 sen or 10.7%, giving it a market capitalisation of RM192.17 million.