Lim Hee Liat, the former executive chairman and founding shareholder of Kimly, has pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
Kimly’s former executive director, Vincent Chia Cher Kiang, has likewise pleaded guilty to the charges against him by the CAD.
The charges levelled against Lim and Chia were in relation to Kimly’s failure to notify the Singapore Exchange (SGX) that its acquisition of Asian Story Corporation was an interested person transaction (IPT).
As such transactions were required to be announced immediately, Kimly was deemed to have committed an offence under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
Lim and Chia have both resigned as directors of Kimly on Nov 11, 2021.
According to court documents released on Feb 16, Lim and Chia were slapped with fines of $150,000 and $100,000 respectively by the state courts on the same day.
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Both were disqualified from acting as directors of any company for a period of five years.
Despite the CAD charge, analysts from RHB Group Research and DBS Group Research remained buoyant on the counter, according to their reports released in November 2021. RHB analyst Jarick Seet even views the case as no longer being an overhang factor, and that the eventual closure of the CAD case will be positive for Kimly in the long term.
Shares in Kimly closed flat at 40 cents on Feb 16.
Photo: Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore
