KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 3): Two former directors of Silver Bird Group Bhd were convicted by the Sessions Court here on Nov 2 for knowingly allowing false statements to be furnished to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd, an offence under Section 369(b)(B) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).

In a statement on Thursday (Nov 3), the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) said Silver Bird's founder and former group managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook and former group executive director Derec Ching Siew Cheong pleaded guilty to one charge each, and were each sentenced to one day in jail and a fine of RM500,000, or 50 months' imprisonment in default.

The duo were first charged on Sept 11, 2013. Tan was charged with seven counts and Ching with eight counts of furnishing false statements contained in Silver Bird's unaudited quarterly financial results for the financial periods ended Oct 31, 2010 and Oct 31, 2011 on Bursa Malaysia.

Sessions Court judge Siti Aminah Ghazali meted out the sentence, which included consideration of the other charges, after the pair filed an application for plea bargaining under Section 172C of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Silver Bird, which produced "High 5" sliced bread and "Silverbird" cakes, was delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2014. It had ceased operations in June 2016 following a court order to vacate its premises.

In February 2013, the confectioner announced a shocking RM112 million hole in its finances, which was later revealed to be RM297 million.

After the financial irregularities were uncovered, Silver Bird fell into Practice Note 17 status, and the group removed Tan and Ching from its board shortly after that.