Silver Bird eyeing recovery

SHAH ALAM: Silver Bird Group Bhd’s special committee chairman Richard George Azlan Abas yesterday assured the company is doing fine with its day-to-day operations and assets.

Despite the huge debt overhang of RM83.66 million as at Feb 29, Richard said the company can still be revived as negotiations are being conducted for debt restructuring.
Richard, who is also an independent non-executive director, said there is no need for a white knight or for external capital injection or even to tap funds from shareholders.

“The company is still strong and viable, it can be profitable if properly managed,” he said at the annual general meeting yesterday.

Richard heads the special committee set up to manage the affairs of the group, including overseeing the daily affairs and operations following reports of financial irregularities.

In a first step towards regaining investor and shareholder confidence, shareholders yesterday also passed a committee-proposed resolution to remove group managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook and group executive director Ching Siew Cheong, — both suspended since Feb 24, from their posts. Another two other individuals were also suspended — including finance general manager Lai Poh Mei.

Messrs Baker Tilly Monteiro Heng were appointed in place of retiring auditors, Messrs Crowe Horwath — who reported having failed to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.

In view of the crisis, all director’s fees for the year ending Oct 31 have been suspended pending completion of ongoing investigations.

As for the forensic investigation report, which was expected to be finalised yesterday, Richard said it has been delayed due to several setbacks.

“We found that hard and soft copies of records were destroyed, with a high volume of transactions including records that were taken away by authorities.”

He gave the assurance the report will be ready by the end of May.

Meanwhile, independent chairman Datuk Dr Gan Khuan Poh said despite stiff competition from two other brands, the group will continue to improve on its operations without compromising on its quality and efficiency.

The four-hour long AGM saw an overwhelming turnout of shareholders and proxies, many wanting to know more about the alleged financial irregularities.