Protasco MD : Tey and I were not business partners

PETALING JAYA: Protasco Bhd's executive vice-chairman and group managing director Datuk Seri Chong Ket Pen has clarified that he and Tey Por Yee, an investor he is in dispute with, were not business partners.
"This is to clarify that I did not have prior business dealings or know of Tey Por Yee until December 2012, when he was interested to be a shareholder of Protasco," Chong said in a statement yesterday.
Chong said he viewed Tey to be a strategic investor that would be beneficial to Protasco and agreed to help organise and secure a short-term loan to complete Tey's purchase of Protasco shares in Decembr 2012.
"I viewed him to be a strategic investor that would be beneficial to the company, and I agreed to help organise this loan for RM20 million," he said.
Chong reiterated that he lent Tey half of the loan through his personal company, RS Mahaniaga, via a short-term loan with a bank, and the other half via JF Apex through a margin financing facility in his own own name.
"These loans were secured by my own Protasco shares and my personal guarantee," Chong said.
He added that the RM10 million that Tey paid to RS Mahaniaga is repayment for the bank tranche of the loan. The RM10 million under JF Apex is still outstanding.