KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 12): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has obtained the High Court’s permission to commence committal proceedings against Datuk Cheryl Tan Bee Geok for allegedly breaching a five-year court-ordered ban on serving as a director or being involved in the management of listed companies and their subsidiaries.
High Court judge Leong Wai Hong on Wednesday allowed the capital market regulator’s application for leave to commence the proceedings against Bee Geok, the SC said in a statement. Bee Geok is the wife of Supermax Corp Bhd (KL:SUPERMX) founder Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim.
The proceedings stem from a consent judgement recorded by the High Court on Sept 17, 2020 following an SC civil action against Bee Geok over an insider-trading offence involving shares of delisted APL Industries Bhd (APLI).
Under the consent judgement, Bee Geok was barred for five years from acting as a director of, or being involved in the management of, any public-listed company or subsidiary of a listed company.
However, the SC alleged that Bee Geok subsequently continued to act as a director of subsidiaries of a listed company and remained actively involved in their management, in breach of the consent judgement. The regulator did not identify the companies concerned in its statement on Wednesday.
"The SC views breaches of consent judgement in securities law cases seriously. Such non-compliant conduct not only undermines the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement but also erodes respect for the authority of court orders and the administration of justice," the SC's statement read.
The SC filed an ex-parte (one-sided) application for leave to commence committal proceedings against Bee Geok on Sept 17, 2025. The High Court subsequently directed that the application be heard on an opposed ex-parte basis before granting leave on Wednesday.
Insider trading that happened in 2007
Bee Geok and her sister were convicted of insider trading offences by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in 2018. They were sentenced to five years in jail and fined RM7 million each for insider trading involving the shares of APLI, which was an associate of Supermax.
Bee Geok was group executive director of APLI and was responsible for financial matters after Supermax emerged as a substantial shareholder.
According to the SC, she had "communicated inside information" to her sister Tan Bee Hong.
“Bee Geok had tipped her sister on the audit adjustments proposed by APLI’s auditors, which resulted in APLI reporting a higher loss for the financial year ended June 30, 2007 compared with the previously reported unaudited fourth-quarter results for the same financial year. The audit adjustments led to APLI being classified as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company.
“APLI made announcements to Bursa Malaysia about the audit adjustments and its classification as a PN17 company on Oct 31, 2007,” said the SC in 2018. The regulator alleged that Bee Hong disposed of 350,000 APLI shares held in her account on Oct 31, 2007, after she got hold of the same non-public information.
On Sept 17, 2020, the High Court recorded a consent judgement between the SC and the duo, and granted the reliefs sought by the regulator.
APLI was subsequently delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2009.