Reveal Serba Dinamik’s total loss to Treasury, Sarawak govt told

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Yii said the controversy involving Serba Dinamik, which the Sarawak government has significant shares in, would have suffered significant losses due to the company’s plunging shares price.

KUCHING (May 19): The Sarawak government is urged to reveal to the public the quantum of losses suffered by the State Treasury and all government-linked bodies and corporations due to the fiasco involving Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen said the controversy involving Serba Dinamik, which the Sarawak government has significant shares in, would have suffered significant losses due to the company’s plunging shares price.

“Based on its Integrated Report 2021, the State Financial Secretary is the second biggest shareholder with 159.5 million shares and 36 million warrant holdings while state-linked Bintulu Development Authority is the 12th biggest shareholder with 21 million shares and 6 million warrant holdings.”

He said the deep plunge in Serba Dinamik’s shares started way back in May 2021 when the issue of the removal of KPMG as the auditor triggered a sell-off, followed by months of high-profile legal tussles with KPMG, Ernst & Young and Bursa Malaysia, as well as missing the coupon payment of US$300 million (about RM1.32 billion) sukuk in November 2021.

“In May 2021, Serba Dinamik shares were in the RM1.60 range, and right before the executives were charged in December 2021, the shares already sunk to a mere 35 sen. Shares in the company have plunged more than 65.7 per cent and hover around 12 sen today.

Yii, who is also DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) chief, said since this issue is of big public interest and involves a significant amount of public money, the Sarawak government must reveal in the spirit of transparency three important factors.

“First factor is the details and the quantum of losses suffered by the state treasury and all the respective government-linked bodies and corporations in Serba Dinamik; second factor, if there was any proactive measure done by the Sarawak government at the beginning to protect the interest of Sarawak since the breakout of the scandal as early as May 2021 and the third factor, what are the plans of the government to recoup the enormous losses in public fund,” he said.

Yii said the implications would have a long-term effect because of the seriousness of the issue.

“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 on conviction.

“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 said.

However, on May 13 this year, he said the federal Attorney General issued a statement that all criminal charges were dropped and instead their executives were compounded RM3 million each under Section 369(a) (B) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

“This sends a very wrong message and may impact investors’ 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.

“The Sarawak government should explain specific plans if any, to better protect the interests of Sarawak and to recoup the enormous losses in public funds,” he said.