KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 13): The High Court on Monday (Dec 13) said it will issue another warrant of arrest against Transmile Group Bhd founder Gan Boon Aun, and fixed Jan 25 as the hearing date for the Securities Commission Malaysia's (SC) cross-appeal — against the one-day jail sentence and RM2.5 million fine imposed on Gan — to be heard with or without his appearance.
The court earlier dismissed Gan's appeal against his conviction and sentence due to his non-attendance, and a warrant of arrest was issued.
SC Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Shoba Venu Gobal informed Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan that they had not been successful to execute the warrant of arrest against Gan and are seeking another two months from the court before enforcing Section 314 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
Shoba also sought another warrant of arrest against Gan.
Section 314 of the CPC stipulates that:
(1) If, in the hearing of the appeal, the respondent is not present and the Court is not satisfied that the notice of appeal was duly served upon him, then the court shall not make any order in the matter of the appeal adverse to or to the prejudice of the respondent, but shall adjourn the hearing of the appeal to a future day for his appearance, and shall issue the requisite notice to him for service through the registrar.
(2) If the service of the last-mentioned notice cannot be effected on the respondent, the court shall proceed to hear the appeal in his absence.
Justice Zaini asked Shoba who appeared with Munira Masood why the SC needs two months before enforcing Section 314, and she replied that efforts to seek Gan are ongoing.
The judge then asked when was the first warrant of arrest issued, and the SC DPP replied that it was Oct 18 — and it had been almost two months since then.
Following this, the court only allowed one month and fixed Jan 25 for the hearing of the appeal with or without Gan.
On Oct 18, The Edge reported that a warrant of arrest was issued against Gan after he was absent when the case was called up.
Gan was found guilty by the Sessions Court on Aug 27, 2020 of furnishing misleading financial statements to Bursa Malaysia in 2007.
The misleading statement on revenue of the group amounted to over RM333 million fictitious sales.
He was sentenced to one day's jail and fined RM2.5 million, resulting in him filing his appeal, while the SC filed the cross-appeal against the sentence imposed by the Sessions Court.
However, it is learnt that Gan's whereabouts are not known. He is believed to be overseas.
The SC only confirmed The Edge's report on the arrest warrant being issued against Gan on Oct 28.
Gan initially appointed counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan to represent him in the trial in the Sessions Court. However, Tan discharged himself sometime when the case was called for case management in the High Court.
Transmile was once a darling stock of Bursa, but it was caught in an Enron-esque accounting scandal in 2007 after auditors concluded that the air cargo service provider's results for the financial years ended Dec 31, 2005 and 2006 were grossly overstated.
Transmile suffered losses of RM126.3 million instead of making a profit of RM157.5 million in 2006. In 2005, it chalked up losses totalling RM369.6 million instead of the RM84.4 million profit that was reported.
It was categorised as a Practice Note 17 company in 2010, and eventually suspended and delisted from Bursa in 2011.