KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 9): Former Silver Bird Group Bhd managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook and its former chief executive officer (CEO) Derec Ching Siew Cheong will continue to stand trial for providing false information to Bursa Malaysia.
This follows the Sessions Court today dismissing their striking out application filed in the middle of the year, after they were acquitted by the Court of Appeal on 134 counts of cheating by submitting forged documents.
Sessions Judge Hasbullah Adam ruled that the appellate court's decision on June 10 was not binding on his court as estoppel does not arise.
He further ruled that it is too premature for the court to allow the striking out and that the duo will not be prejudiced if the trial proceeds as they could still contest the charges.
As a result, Hasbullah ordered the trial to proceed on Dec 16 and 17.
Tan is facing seven charges of furnishing false information to Bursa Malaysia while Ching is facing eight similar counts to the trading bourse.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Hafiz Mohd Yusof and counsel Datuk N Sivananthan, who appeared for Ching, confirmed today's decision when contacted by theedgemarkets.com.
Meanwhile, lawyer Teh See Khoon appeared for Tan.
The decision was originally scheduled to be delivered on Oct 16 but had to be postponed due to the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
Hafiz said the prosecution has five other witnesses scheduled to testify when the trial resumes on Dec 16.
Tan and Ching are accused of furnishing Bursa Malaysia with falsified statements contained in Silver Bird's eight unaudited quarterly financial accounts for the financial years ended Oct 31, 2010 and Oct 31, 2011.
The defence had argued that since the Court of Appeal had, in another case, established that Tan and Ching had no knowledge of the forged documents, the charges in this case should also be struck out.
On June 10, a three-member appellate court bench led by Justice Datuk Kamardin Hashim acquitted Tan and Ching on all 134 charges of cheating and purportedly using forged documents to cheat Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) of close to RM67.4 million.
The appellate court upheld the decision by the Sessions Court and High Court to acquit them.
Silver Bird — which was delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2014 — was known for its "High 5" brand of bread loaf and "Silverbird" brand of cake. Following a court order to vacate its operating premises, it ceased operations in June 2016.
In February 2013, the bread maker made a surprising announcement on a RM112 million hole in its finances — which later turned out to be RM297 million.
When the financial irregularities were uncovered, Silver Bird announced that the stock exchange had categorised it as a financially distressed company under Practice Note 17.
The group then removed both Tan and Ching from its board of directors shortly after.
If convicted of furnishing false information, both Tan and Ching could face up to 10 years in jail and a maximum fine of RM3 million.