Dato' Lim Kim Ming, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of GP Ocean Food Berhad (GP Ocean), and Lim Kim Hai, Executive Director and Finance Director of GP Ocean, were charged for submitting misleading information to the SC in connection with GP Ocean's proposal for listing on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.
GP Ocean submitted its listing proposal to the SC on 23 August 2005. They later revised the proposal and resubmitted to the SC on 15 February 2006.
The SC's investigation revealed the submission of misleading information pertaining to revenue figures for financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2006 amounting to:
- RM142,452,400 for Gropoint Fisheries Sdn Bhd and RM38,009,652 for Gropoint Seafood Industries by Dato' Lim Kim Ming; and
- RM180,462,052 for GP Ocean by Lim Kim Hai.
Gropoint Fisheries Sdn Bhd and Gropoint Seafood Industries Sdn Bhd's are subsidiaries of GP Ocean.
Dato' Lim Kim Ming and Lim Kim Hai are charged for an offence under section 32B(1)(a)(aa) of the Securities Commission Act 1993 (SCA) read together with section 138(2) of the SCA.
All parties are to submit on the issue of joint trial on 29 May 2007.
The offence by the accused persons is punishable under section 32B(4) of the SCA and is liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of RM3 million or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both.
The Court has yet to fix trial dates pending the outcome of the submission on the joint trial issue on 29 May 2007. The Court granted the accused persons bail of RM500,000 each with one surety.
With these latest prosecutions, the SC has thus far charged four directors of GP Ocean as well as the company itself. The two other directors, Tan Siok Wan and Lee Sin Teck, were charged on 18 April 2007 while the company was charged on 8 May 2007.