KUALA LUMPUR: Sentoria Group Bhd has denied all allegations made by its former chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Loh Yuen Tuck against the company.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, Sentoria said the allegation of constructive dismissal is unfounded.
Despite Loh taking an action in the Industrial Court, the company claimed his resignation does not constitute constructive dismissal.
"We will present our facts and case if required in court later. We maintain that Loh repudiated his contract for service by failing to report for duty as requested in our letter dated July 26, 2024," it said in the filing.
Sentoria said it did not create a situation leading to constructive dismissal as Loh was suspended for an internal inquiry to be conducted pertaining to his harassment of company employees together with other issues.
Prior to his suspension, it said Loh had missed three exco meetings on May 14, 17 and 20, 2024.
"The board decided on a three-month suspension to complete the inquiry, with the grounds of suspension communicated to him on June 28, 2024.
"Thus, Loh's claim of being unaware of his suspension is baseless," it said.
In May 2024, Sentoria suspended Loh with immediate effect due to absence from office without notice since May 17, abuse of authority and other misrepresentation and irregularities.
However, in a news report, Loh claimed that he was suspended as CEO at the end of May and reinstated at the end of June, adding that he resigned due to constructive dismissal.
He also said he had asked Sentoria to announce his constructive dismissal to Bursa, but the company did not comply and he was now seeking compensation through the Industrial Court.
Regarding Loh's claim of the company's non-reply to his four emails about his suspension, Sentoria said there was no cause to reply as the company had embarked on the inquiry where any replies must go through the inquiry channel.
"The company is taking the view that Loh's insistence to announce his constructive dismissal to Bursa Malaysia is an attempt to leverage which tantamount to mala fide or bad faith on his part," it said.
Sentoria also denied any connection between the resignations of independent directors and Loh's departure.
The company said the resignation of Datuk Abdul Rahman Imam Arshad was a condition set forth by Loh upon his appointment as CEO as contained in his contract for service.
"As for the resignation of Datuk Ras Adiba Mohd Radzi, Lim Zhao Qi and Lim Poh Seong (whom were all introduced to the company by Loh), it was a resignation done out of professional etiquette as a result of a third party (white knight) brought by Loh, but (the move) was unable to contribute or to assist the revival of the company.
"For the resignation of the company secretaries, we were given to understand that it was a result of a threat of lawsuit by Loh," it said.
Sentoria also denied Loh's claim that the company did not adhere to his revival plan, saying that the plan was unworkable.
The company said the revival plan involves three components, i.e. mainly buying out shares sale agreement for 66.67 million shares, working capital for the Morib project and raising funds by way of RCB bond.
Sentoria stressed that this claim was baseless as the revival of the company which included the three components did not materialise as Loh was unable to deliver on the first and second component, and the third component was not workable and feasible.
"Therefore, the allegation of the issues is a non-starter. The company's decisions were based on non-viable solutions provided by Loh, which constitutes misrepresentation," it added.