SINGAPORE: The chief executive officer of No Signboard Holdings has been suspended from all executive duties after being charged with price rigging offences, said the restaurant operator in a filing on Tuesday (Aug 8).
Sam Lim Yong Sim, who is also the executive chairman of the company, was charged on Jul 27 with three counts of false trading and market rigging.
The 46-year-old is accused of placing orders for No Signboard Holdings shares, and trades in the shares were executed through the account of Gugong – the majority shareholder of No Signboard Holdings – to push up or support the prices.
The company said on Tuesday Lim has been put on a leave of absence, which involves a suspension from all his executive duties as CEO.
He will continue to remain as a director during his suspension, it added.
The suspension, effective from Tuesday, is “pending the resolution of the proceedings relating to the charges”.
“In arriving at this decision, the board took into account the NC’s (nominating committee) recommendations and views, including the seriousness and nature of the charges and the negative impact the charges may reasonably be expected to have on minority shareholders’ confidence in the company.”
Non-executive director Lim Teck-Ean will take over as interim CEO and be redesignated as executive director.
“The immediate focus of Mr Lim Teck-Ean and the board will be to obtain the SGX-ST’s (Singapore Exchange Securities Trading) approval for the resumption of trading of the company’s shares,” said the company.
No Signboard Holdings’ board added it does not expect the charges or suspension to impact its existing business operations or ability to resume the trading of its shares.
Shares have been suspended from trading since Jan 24, 2022, said a company announcement to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Jul 25.
Lim was arrested on Apr 30, 2019 on “reasonable suspicion” that sections of the Securities and Futures Act on false trading, market-rigging transactions and insider trading “may have been breached”, the Catalist-listed company said in a filing to SGX in 2019.
According to its website, No Signboard Holdings runs three restaurants in Singapore – No Signboard Seafood in Geylang, Little Sheep Hot Pot in Orchard, and nosignboard Sheng Jian in Yishun.
The group said on Tuesday it intends to undergo a rebranding exercise, which may include the renaming of its existing brands upon the resumption of trading.