Monday, September 17, 2018
AMBank's Cheah Tek Kuang should not have been rewarded with the BToto chairmanship; should instead be formally interrogated.
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Cheah Tek Kuang
The Edge reported:
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) said "actions" were taken against both AmBank bankers Joanne Yu and Cheah Tek Kuang by Bank Negara Malaysia for covering up money laundering transactions relating to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fund.
In its written reply to Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua Kiam Wee, MoF said Bank Negara has undertaken investigations on financial institutions relating to 1MDB under Financial Services Act 2013, Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, and Anti Money Laundering Act 2001. However, MoF did not say what those actions were.
What the MOF omitted was the fact that Cheah, after leaving AMBank, was rewarded with the chairmanship of Berjaya Sports Toto.
While at AMBank he oversaw lending to the Berjaya Group which was not without problems.
This writer had this to say in 2012 , in a note to associates, when Cheah left AMBank for BToto:
Cheah Tek Kuang, the recently retired MD of AmBank Group Bhd (AMMB), has been appointed chairman of Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto), a company within the Berjaya Group controlled by Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan. BToto is essentially the cash cow upon which Tan's business interests, including the Berjaya Group, are built.
When ANZ announced its AMMB investment in 2006 this writer reported that ANZ is going to have to wear AMMB's customer relationships which given Malaysia's closely knit political and business structures are not always commercial. This writer showed that AMMB's merchant banking, stock trading and retail banking subsidiaries had been for a long time principal bankers to the Berjaya Group , that AMMB had an unhealthy exposure to the group, and noted then that AMMB could not afford to let Berjaya fail.
ANZ was expected to impose a better risk management regime at AMMB but 3 years later, in 2009 we reported that despite its denials AmBank had mysteriously emerged as the owner of a 43 per cent stake in U Mobile, a telco controlled by Vincent Tan.
AmBank's denials were made in the face of a disclosure to Bursa Malaysia (the Malaysian Stock Exchange) by Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad. In documents filed at the Exchange Multi-Purpose disclosed that it had an agreement with AmBank to acquire a 43 per cent stake in U Mobile.Given AMMB's non-disclosure of its exposure it could not be determined how its bottom line was affected.
In 2010 AMMB underwrote the IPO of Berjaya Retail Bhd , company of the group. In announcing the IPO Tan said that he would raise about RM 50 million which would be used for expansion. Yet just seven months after the listing in August 2010 Tan moved to privatise the company. His manoeuvre holds the record by a country mile for the fastest IPO listed on the Malaysian Exchange that has then been privatised. The IPO had been reported to be over-subscribed 17.52 times and so it would seem that AMMB would not have been exposed to BRetail stock. However the fall in share price below the RM 0.50 offer price and low volumes traded seem incongruent with the story of strong investor demand.
It is against this backdrop that Cheah has been appointed Berjaya Toto chairman.He remains non-executive director of AMMB subsidiaries AmBank (M) Bhd, AmInvestment Bank Bhd and AmIslamic Bank Bhd.
Cheah i has since been replaced by Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping.
Former MD Tan Kok Ping is back at Berjaya Sports Toto as chairman
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theedgemarkets.com
August 01, 2018 19:08 pm +08
KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 1): Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) has appointed Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping as non-independent and non-executive chairman of the group effective immediately, replacing Cheah Tek Kuang who has resigned.
Tan was previously the managing director and deputy chairman of BToto from 1992 to 2001. Currently, he is the executive chairman and major shareholder of Magni-Tech Industries Bhd.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, BToto said Cheah, 71, has tendered his resignation, citing his desire to pursue other interests.
According to BToto's Annual Report 2017, Cheah was appointed to the board of the group on July 25, 2012 as the chairman.
He is presently an independent non-executive director of IOI Corporation Bhd, UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd and Eco World International Bhd. He is also a director of Yayasan Bursa Malaysia.
Cheah was appointed a Justice of Peace by the Sultan of Selangor in 1999.
In a separate filing, the group said Tan, 71, has more than 40 years of experience in various business sectors which include property development, manufacturing of consumer electronics, garment, corrugated and plastic packaging products.
Tan has also served as non-executive chairman of Berjaya Retail Bhd, chairman of Penang Joint Chambers of Commerce and deputy president of The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia.
He also sits on the board of a subsidiary of Berjaya Land Bhd, as well as in several other private limited companies. He is the executive adviser and former president of the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
BToto shares closed up one sen or 0.42% to RM2.37 today, with 225,200 shares done, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM3.21 billion.
Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 7:14 AM
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