Minority shareholder calls for more accountability in Tanjung Offshore

KUALA LUMPUR: Tanjong Offshore Bhd minority shareholder, Tan Sri Tan Kean Soon, in calling for more accountability within the group's board of directors, strongly believesissuessurroundingtheoil and gas company can be rectified amicably.

The veteran oil and gas player told Bernama in an interview that there were certain elements in the group that needed to be addressed, including a restructuring of the board of directors to safeguard the interest of the group's minority shareholders over the longerterm.

"We (minority shareholders) are proposing to remove some independent directors who were never independent at all. I hope that we can restructure the board and work as a team," said Tan, who claimed that a few other likeminded minority shareholders had approached him to effect the necessary changes.

Besides the alleged l ack of corporate governance, he said the other minority shareholders were also unhappy over the fact that no dividend payout had been made for the financial years of between 2010 and 2012.

Tan owns about eight per cent equity interest in Tanjong Offshore.

He was roped in by the then Managing Director of Tanjong Offshore Datuk Harzani Azmi via a private placement.

Interestingly, Harzani resigned a day before the company's annual general meeting last year but came back as a paid advisor of the group.

In January, Tan, who is a nonindependent director, along with Harzani and Executive Director Muhammad Sabri Ab Ghani were suspended by an independent committee (IC) pending further investigation on a possible conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty that could have an impact on a deal with a Singapore-based oil and gas outfit.

Tanjong Offshore was to have undertaken a reverse takeover on the offshore supply vessel assets of the Singapore company but the deal fell apart at the end of 2014, reportedly over falling oil prices and the inability to meet certain conditions.

Tan had since reported to the Securities Commission on what he perceived as irregularities conducted by certain company officials.

"Some of the acquisitions did not follow Bursa Malaysia's requirements set for listed companies. There were acquisitions that were done without due diligence.

"No company would enter a transaction without due diligence. It is the utmost important process," he alleged.

Explaining his side of the story in the on-going boardroom tussle, Tan said that he was among those who consented that the IC should be established after a lot of questions were raised on several acquisitions, including a failed chromite sand venture in the Philippines. – Bernama