Days ago the young millionaire from Sabah, Malaysia, who created his fortune by listing his company in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange was sued by Securities Commission (SC) for allegedly using the company money for his own gain. I’m sure you remember the glory days when this FTEC Resources Bhd chief and founder Kenneth Vun made instant multi-millions from floating the shares of his company when the stocks skyrocket to unbelievable level – above RM2.00 per share.
Punters and short-term investors both loved and hated the stock. The stock was fried up, reheated and reheated again by some syndicates. Many people rejoiced for making good money but many more people cried for losing tons of money. That’s the price you need to pay for speculating (more like a gambling) such stock. Seriously, there’s not much value in FTEC’s business model although the vision to duplicate the success of Michael Dell should be applauded.
While some compliments should be extended to Securities Commission, isn’t such action a little bit too late? The money was raised in FTEC’s initial public offerings (IPO) in 2003 and only now the SC is taking action? Yeah, SC is not auditor and should not be blamed and so the story goes. The SC filed a landmark civil suit against Vun on September 26 2007 to make him pay back RM2.5 million to the company that was allegedly used for his own benefit. Vun resigned on 2nd Oct 2007 after the suit.
You want to know how he used the money, maybe you should check out what’s inside his garage – a Ferrari. Not that I’m surprise considering his love for high-speed sportscar but if he had misused company’s money for personal benefit, then that’s something not acceptable. But then there’re many un-listed companies out there that actually bought cool multi-million cars to shrink their company’s profit to pay less tax. It’s a common practice. Guess that’s the price you’ve to pay when you’re the owner of a public listed company.
Owning Ferrari is not a big deal if you compare the wealthy people in Monaco. Did I hear Singapore is on its vision to turn the tiny dot into an equivalent Monaco in years to come? Well, in Monaco’s recent yacht show, the new “in things” is the new concept of luxury yacht. Wealthy tycoons own yachtes so no big deal. But the appetite of the rich or famous has changed. They want to be different and they want to show it off to everyone. They want more accessories besides the yacht – how about helicopter and submarine?
Basically that’s how the rich and famous spend their money – a car, a yacht, a helicopter and probably a plane. Many made good profits from stock markets but nothing beat the oil tycoon such as Russians Roman A. Abramovich who owns at least three mega-yachts and has another under construction, the 540-foot Eclipse, which according to Monaco newspapers will be outfitted with twin helicopter landing pads and a submarine. That’s what I call the super rich. On the side note, I’m wondering if Badawi’s yacht has helicopter landing pad, if he indeed owns one. If not maybe he should upgrade it or maybe he bought an obsolete model.
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October 4th, 2007 by financetwitter
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