KUALA LUMPUR (March 14): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has confirmed that the premises of certain public listed companies have been raided over the suspected abuse of fund-raising activities.

The SC said this in an email response to The Edge, but did not elaborate, saying it was not able to provide further details on the raids as "investigations are ongoing".

Earlier on Thursday, The Star reported, citing sources, that the regulator had kicked off the investigations following complaints and tip-offs from the public on alleged fraud, and the potential false or misleading disclosure by several public listed companies in their fund-raising exercises, including private placements, employee share option schemes and rights issues.

According to the news report, the raids were said to have been conducted around the Tropicana area in Petaling Jaya.