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PETALING JAYA – Group CEO of the country’s largest sugar refinery, MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd
, has been put on leave for inventory “irregularities” at its Johor refinery.
MSM said its board of directors appointed Fakhrunniam Othman as the officer-in-charge to perform the functions of the CEO and ensure that business is normal.
“Fakhrunniam will be guided and assisted by an executive committee of the board, made up of three directors of MSM, namely Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir, Datuk Dr. Abd Hapiz Abdullah and Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan,” MSM said in a presentation to Bursa. Malaysia.
Interestingly, MSM did not name its CEO in the announcement or explain the nature of the inventory irregularities.
According to the MSM website, the current CEO of the company’s group is Datuk Khairil Anuar Aziz, who was appointed on April 23, 2019.
“He has been given seven days from yesterday to respond to the matter and has been put on leave until further notice from the board,” he said.
According to an official, the CEO has been asked to explain certain irregularities related to the MSM Sugar Refinery (Johor) Sdn Bhd inventories for 2019.
The Johor refinery started operations in the second half of 2019 and has been underutilized. Since then, the company has taken steps to consolidate its operations, including closing its Perlis plant.
The group also announced plans to develop value-added products for export through MSM Johor, such as liquid sugar, premix and fine syrup to strengthen the group’s revenues.
Currently, the total refining capacity of MSM is 2.25 million tons per year. In 2019, MSM produced 1.07 million tons of refined sugar.
According to a statement released yesterday by MSM, the group was unable to disclose any additional information related to the announcement at this time.
“Suffice it to say that inventory related irregularities at MSM Sugar Refinery (Johor) will not affect the current fiscal year (FY20).
“The financial impact has been accounted for in FY19.
“We strongly believe that this will not jeopardize MSM’s reputation as steps have been taken to ensure continuity of leadership to ensure the smooth running of the day-to-day management of the group,” he said.
MSM added that internal due process would run its course with proper governance and full transparency.
FGV Holdings Bhd owns a 51% stake in MSM, which produces and sells refined sugar products under its flagship brand, Gula Prai.
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