SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – The board of Allied Technologies announced on Monday night (March 29) that it would be consulting its special auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Risk Services (PwC), and its auditors at the material time, Ernst & Young, among others, in response to allegations against its executive director Kenneth Low Si Ren and investor Lin Tah Hwa.
The board’s nominating committee will also conduct an internal review relating to the allegations, according to a bourse filing.
This came after former managing partner of JLC Advisors Jeffrey Ong Su Aun alleged that Mr Low and Mr Lin were the ones responsible for the misappropriated funds, and claimed that they were driving the round-tripping and sham transactions involving the engineering firm in his affidavit to support his bail application.
In its statement, the company stated that it would await the conclusion of the PwC audit or further information before deciding the next steps to take in order to recover the escrow monies placed with JLC.
According to the company, this was “in the interest of not incurring unnecessary costs and is in the view of the fact that there is already an ongoing special audit by PwC and ongoing investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD)”.
In the case where investigations uncover further facts regarding the case, the board said that the company would conduct further investigations and apply for joinder of parties in any legal proceedings against JLC.
The company has also “taken all other practicable steps to recover the monies due from JLC”, including lodging a police report with the CAD and filing a complaint with the Law Society of Singapore. Further, the company has – through its solicitors – written to DBS, where the escrow monies were held, to request for statements and documents related to the escrow account.
However, DBS’s solicitors have informed the firm’s solicitors that JLC has declined to allow DBS to provide the documents sought by the company, according to the announcement.
