Lee Shih

10 Things on the New Beneficial Ownership Reporting in Malaysia

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The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) has issued the Guideline for the Reporting Framework for Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons. This guideline has already come into force. Companies, limited liability partnerships and businesses have up to 31 December 2020 to obtain and update their beneficial ownership information.

I had earlier written about the global trends on disclosure of beneficial ownership and also the existing Malaysian position in the Companies Act 2016 (CA 2016). I had also made some comments on the consultation document on the proposed beneficial ownership guidelines.

I now write on 10 things on the beneficial ownership framework to Malaysian companies and the responsibilities that follow.

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Company Law Case Update: Oppression Issues on Beneficial Shareholders and a Shareholders Agreement

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The High Court decision in Gue See Sew & 2 others v Heng Tang Hai & 2 others (see the Grounds of Judgment dated 2 January 2020 and at Gue See Sew & Ors v Heng Tang Hai & Ors [2020] MLJU 46) deals with important legal issues on whether a beneficial owner of shares can initiate an oppression action and whether breaches of a shareholders’ agreement can be grounds for oppression.

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Case Update: Federal Court Decides on Issue of Leave to Sue Liquidator Personally

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I set out a case update on the Federal Court decision of Tee Siew Kai v Machang Indah Development Sdn Bhd (see the Grounds of Judgment dated 17 February 2020). The decision is on the law applicable to the grant of leave to sue a liquidator in his personal capacity. This decision reverses the Court of Appeal decision in Tee Siew Kai (as liquidator for Merger Acceptance Sdn Bhd) (in liquidation) v Machang Indah Development Sdn Bhd (in liquidation) (previously known as Rakyat Corp Sdn Bhd [2019] 2 MLJ 514.

This decision reiterates the importance of leave of the Court in order to avoid wasteful litigation against liquidators and to preclude unwarranted interference with the winding up process. There must be a prima facie case made out, the Court must evaluate the evidence to see if this has been met, and pecuniary loss suffered by the company must be shown. Continue reading →

Artificial Intelligence has Arrived for Criminal Sentencing

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We will be seeing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Malaysia courts for the first time this week. AI will be used to give guidance to a Magistrate Court Judge on the sentencing of certain criminal offences. The public prosecutor and the defence counsel will still get a chance to submit and comment on the sentencing guideline generated by the AI system. The Magistrate Judge will have the final discretion on the sentence to impose.

This article will set out how this AI system will be implemented. This is based on the various news reports (see here, here and here) and the presentation made by the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah at the Selangor Bar Civil Law Conference on 14 February 2020. I anticipate that there will be more clarity once the system is up and running. Continue reading →

Six Points on Leave to Appeal to the Federal Court

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At the recent Civil Law Conference on 14 February 2020, there was a list of good pointers, statistics and tips set out in the session on leave to appeal to the Federal Court. This post sets out the chances of success and examples of questions where leave was allowed.

As a brief background, in Malaysia, the apex court is the Federal Court. For matters that originated at the High Court, the final level of appeal is before the Federal Court. But an appeal to the Federal Court is not as of right. There must first be an application for leave, or permission, to appeal to the Federal Court. The test for leave is that there must be a question to be decided for the first time or a question of importance where a Federal Court decision would be to public advantage. Where leave is allowed, the Federal Court would then allow the appeal proper to be heard.

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Talk on Resolving Boardroom and Shareholders Disputes

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On Tuesday 7 April 2020, I will be speaking at the Companies Commission of Malaysia seminar on ‘Resolving Boardroom and Shareholders Disputes‘. It is a half day talk from 9am to 1pm and with a registration fee of RM250 or RM300. It is open to members of the public.

I am looking forward to sharing practical insight from the various cases I have worked on. I frequently receive queries from company secretaries, directors and shareholders on certain disputes. I then designed this seminar around these often raised issues. Continue reading →