KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): NexG Bhd (KL:NEXG) executive chairman and CEO Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin has claimed that the suspension of his executive power happened after he objected to the board’s proposal to subcontract the company’s government contracts to third parties.
In a statement on Tuesday, the founder of NexG said, “I was protecting the company from being robbed in daylight of certain core technologies.”
Hanifah alleged that there was a plan to subcontract NexG’s technologies to a competing public-listed firm — HeiTech Padu Bhd (KL:HTPADU). He pointed out that NexG’s corporate adviser Sandraruben Neelamagham (Ruben) is also an executive director at HeiTech Padu. And the alleged plan was spearheaded by Datuk Chong Loong Men, who resigned on Sunday (March 8). Besides Ruben, NexG also hired Ahmad Rasyad Anwar as an external adviser.
“For context, this plan is alleged to be hatched by a gentleman by the name of Mr A, who Ruben appears to report to,” said Hanifah in the statement.
According to Hanifah, the duo allegedly attempted to subcontract two key technological components of NexG’s secure identity ecosystem, namely the Chip Operating System (COS) for Secure ID Applications and the QR Code Digital Identity Integration Project — with a combined value of more than RM300 million — to the other firm.
Chong, who was made executive director in mid-November, and Ruben began intervening in NexG’s procurement process and operation decisions, bypassing Hanifah in giving direct instructions to technical staff and reprimanding said staff for not carrying out their wishes, which were in conflict with the company’s interests, as staff were essentially asked to breach their fiduciary duties, the statement said.
Former directors and executives threatened with investigations
Hanifah also highlighted that several former directors, independent directors and key management officers were “forced to leave their positions under circumstances that raised serious concerns with the company”.
“I was made aware that representations and threats had allegedly been made to certain individuals that they could face investigations by the authorities, including potential PDRM and AMLA-related actions, should they refuse to step down from their positions,” said Hanifah, noting that several directors and executives resigned from NexG in “rapid succession”.
Soon after, Hanifah said he was placed under pressure to facilitate the appointment of several new directors to fill the vacancies. He pointed out that it was not clear “whose interests these individuals ultimately represented, as there were no disclosures indicating any shareholding interest or identifiable alignment with existing shareholders”.
Subsequently, NexG hired two external advisers — Ruben and Ahmad Rasyad.
Hanifah highlighted that Kunal Tayal is a foreign national from India and also a director of competing company Bestinet Sdn Bhd.
Hanifah described in the statement that Bestinet is publicly known to be linked to “Mr A”.
Advisers turned investigators
Hafinah claimed that on March 4, he terminated the services of Ruben and Ahmad Rasyad.
At a special board meeting held the following day, the board subsequently decided to suspend Hanifah and reinstate the corporate advisers “purportedly because they were required to assist the forensic task force to investigate him”, Hanifah said.
Hanifah stressed that the seven directors are not fit to serve the company because “their silly actions and ignorance of the industry can destroy the company”.
“They cannot play with fire. So I have called for this EGM to remove all seven, but one of them has already resigned because he can’t take the heat from the fire he started,” he said.
Hanifah, Siti Nur Aishah Ishak and Velocity Capital Sdn Bhd — the financing arm of Velocity Capital Partner Bhd (KL:VELOCITY) — issued a notice on March 5 to propose for an EGM on April 3 to remove seven directors and appoint eight new ones, including Datuk Ishak Ismail and his son, Raya Airways group managing director Mohamad Najib Ishak.
NexG’s investments in NexG Bina & MMAG derailed
Hanifah reiterated that the company’s investments in NexG Bina Bhd (KL:NEXGBINA) and MMAG Holdings Bhd (KL:MMAG) were strategic moves and never short-term positions, as both companies have seen their share prices tumble.
He stated that the investments were part of the company’s expansion plans, but alleged its plans were disrupted.
Hanifah explained that buying into NexG Bina, formerly known as Classita X, was part of the company’s venture into the infrastructure and construction sector.
However, he claimed that NexG’s move into NexG Bina was linked to “a highly politically-linked figure Mr X”.
“He (Mr X) indicated that he was in a position to facilitate or procure opportunities for NexG Bina to secure the MRT3 projects with NexG’s involvement and will bring substantial contract values and profit margins to NexG Bina and NexG,” Hanifah said.
Meanwhile, NexG's investment in logistics firm MMAG extended its ecosystem beyond document production to include distribution and fulfilment, according to Hanifah.
Hanifah said NexG had been in talks with the Chief Government Security Office on proposed secure home delivery of MyKad and passports, as well as on-the-spot printing and issuance of passports at major international airports.
As these proposed initiatives would require strict protocols and chain-of-custody management, NexG viewed MMAG as a potential strategic partner, he added.
However, various disruptions obstructed these plans and resulted in negative sentiment on MMAG and NexG Bina.
According to Hanifah, these investments were collectively and properly deliberated and decided by the board at the relevant point in time.
He said the departure of previous board members and senior executives who had originally conceptualised and were responsible for executing the strategic initiatives arising from NexG’s investments had resulted in no continuity of leadership to carry forward the projects and development plans that had already been set in motion.
“This scheme appears to have pre-mediated sabotage actions to scupper and effectively engineer the failure of these collectively approved investments, preventing the company from realising the intended value. This has now created the impression that the outcomes were the result of my actions alone,” said Hanifah.
NexG, formerly Datasonic Group Bhd, swung to a net loss of RM130.88 million for its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2025 (3QFY2026), as the group was hit by a massive fair value loss of RM145.6 million on "other investments".
However, NexG did not provide details of these investments in its quarterly results filing.
Last week, Hanifah’s executive powers were suspended via a majority decision by NexG’s board. The board said in a filing that Hanifah’s suspension is related to an ongoing review of the company’s investments in quoted shares, which recently attracted public attention due to heavy paper losses.
NexG invested RM88 million to buy 220 million shares or a 9.53% stake in MMAG Holdings Bhd (KL:MMAG) at 40 sen each in March 2025. MMAG’s share price has since dropped 92.5% to close at three sen on Tuesday (March 10).
Five months later, in August 2025, it bought a 32.61% stake in NexG Bina and 414.31 million warrants for RM93.25 million. The investments are now worth RM14.2 million, an 84.8% loss, with shares at 2.5 sen and warrants at one sen.
Hanifah, the founder, said he reserves all rights to initiate further proceedings to safeguard both NexG and his interests, reputation and goodwill. The proceedings include “disclosure of voice recordings of Chong, Ruben, Mr X and Mr A to prove my innocence, the truthfulness of my statements and their wrongdoings”, he said.