Serba Dinamik had sought the stay order pending disposal of its appeal in the Court of Appeal against a High Court’s decision on Feb 7, directing the oil and gas company to make a public announcement of the FFU by Ernst & Young Consulting.
Ernst & Young Consulting was appointed to conduct a special independent review on Serba Dinamik’s financial accounts for a 12-month period ending Dec 31, 2020.
Today’s court proceeding was conducted virtually before a three-member panel comprising justices Lee Swee Seng, Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Gunalan Muniandy.
In the court’s unanimous decision, Lee, who led the panel, said the court found no merits in Serba Dinamik’s application for a stay order as the company had not shown any special or exceptional circumstances.
He said the court was satisfied that the appeal would not be nugatory if Serba Dinamik was successful in its appeal.
Lee said that Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd’s rules on disclosure were binding on Serba Dinamik and that public shareholders were entitled to know what had happened.
“Bursa is not asking the applicant (Serba Dinamik) to agree to the contents of the EY (Ernst & Young Consulting) report. The applicant has the liberty to disagree with the report and inform Bursa in the announcement,” he said, adding that it was for the public to judge.
The court ordered Serba Dinamik to pay RM15,000 costs to Bursa.
The bourse regulator and operator had on Nov 23, 2021 started legal action against Serba Dinamik after the company failed to comply with Bursa’s directive, dated Oct 22, 2021, requiring the company to disclose the material findings of FFU made by Ernst & Young Consulting.
Serba Dinamik had also filed an action against Bursa and Ernst Young Consulting in a bid to prevent them from disclosing the FFU and other related matters. This was dismissed by another High Court.
On Feb 14 this year, the High Court also rejected Serba Dinamik’s application for a stay of the High Court’s order for the company to make a public announcement of the FFU.
Lawyer Mah Lin Kum appeared for Serba Dinamik, while Loh Siew Cheang represented Bursa and Ng Jack Meng held a watching brief for the Securities Commission of Malaysia.