Justice Dato’ Rohana Binti Yusuf, at the Kuala Lumpur High Court hearing yesterday, dismissed Ramesh’s application for leave on the grounds that the application was made out of time and the applicant was not an aggrieved person affected by the SC’s decision to register PwC and hence did not have locus standi to commence judicial review proceedings against the SC.
All leave applications to commence judicial review proceedings are required to be served on the AG. Both the AG and the SC argued that there were flaws in the application and raised preliminary objections urging the court to dismiss Ramesh’s leave application. In delivering her decision, Dato’ Rohana agreed with the objections and refused to grant leave to Ramesh. The High Court also ordered Ramesh to pay costs to the AG and the SC.
On November 2010, Ramesh had filed an application to commence judicial review proceedings against the AOB’s registration of PwC under the Securities Commission Act 1993.
The SC set up AOB in 2010 to register and oversee auditors of all Public Interest Entities (PIEs) which include public listed companies, licensed intermediaries, institutions licensed under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 and insurance companies under the Insurance Act 1996.
The establishment of AOB is aimed primarily to protect investor interests and promote confidence in the quality and reliability of audited financial statements of PIEs.
SECURITIES COMMISSION MALAYSIA
