SINGAPORE – The former director and chief executive of printing company Xpress Holdings was on Friday charged with breaching the disclosure obligations of a director and substantial shareholder of the company.
Fong Kah Kuen, 69, who also goes by the name of Foong Kah Kuen and is better known in business circles as K.K. Fong, faces 15 charges under the Securities and Futures Act.
The charges allege that he failed to disclose his interests when he was the director and CEO of the company, and when he ceased to be a substantial shareholder.
Xpress Holdings is now known as A-Smart Holdings.
Between Oct 31, 2013, and July 29, 2014, while Fong was the CEO of Xpress Holdings, he allegedly furnished inaccurate information to the company about his direct and deemed interests in the company’s shares on three occasions.
Between May 19, 2014, and June 5, 2015, while Fong was CEO and director of the company, he allegedly failed to give notice in writing within two business days of changes in his direct and deemed interest in the company’s shares on 11 occasions.
The shareholding changes arose from the disposal of the company’s shares in Fong’s personal trading account as well as those held by a corporate entity owned by him.
Separately, on Nov 6, 2013, when Fong ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the company, he allegedly failed to give notice in writing within two business days.
Fong has been known as a flamboyant businessman who used to always wear his trademark suspenders.
He founded Xpress in 1986 after several failed business ventures.
In 2015, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued warnings against Xpress Holdings and Fong for failing to make immediate disclosures of two winding-up applications filed against the company and its subsidiary Xpress Print.
SGX’s investigations at the time found that Xpress had announced only on July 23, 2014, a winding-up application against it by a creditor that was received 20 days earlier, and another winding-up application against its subsidiary that was received 15 days earlier.
Fong, who was then executive chairman and CEO, informed the company’s board of directors about the winding-up applications only on July 16, 2014, which was more than a week after he had received the notices.
SGX said these were breaches of listing rules, which require the immediate disclosure of such notices.
It added that Fong claimed that during the period between receiving the notices and declaring them, he had tried to resolve matters as he felt they were either “frivolous” or “legally flawed”, and that making an immediate announcement might present an “unbalanced picture of the company’s state of affairs”.
Fong is out on $10,000 bail, and has been granted permission by the court to leave Singapore. His case is expected to be heard again on March 3. If convicted, he may be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $250,000 for each charge.
