CLIQ Energy shareholders received unauthorised statement with annual report

PETALING JAYA: The management team of CLIQ Energy Bhd wrong-footed its board of directors by sending out a statement appended to the hard copy of its annual report, detailing an appeal to the Securities Commission (SC) for an extension of time to secure its qualifying acquisition (QA), without the approval of the board.
In a filing with the stock exchange, CLIQ independent directors said the "Statement by the Management and Promoters of CLIQ" was issued without the knowledge or approval of CLIQ directors.
According to the statement attached with the physical copy of the annual report, the CLIQ management team said it has initiated letters of appeal to the SC for an extension of time to secure its QA, in line with the reason that CLIQ was set up and listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.
In the letter, it was also mentioned that the management team has a strong belief in the oil and gas industry, and that the probability of a further drastic decline in oil prices is low and a drop, if indeed there is any, would be minimal.
"The positive effect from the current low oil prices would in our view, make this an opportune time to acquire assets at much lower prices and thereby creating value when oil prices recover," said the statement.
CLIQ's management team is led by managing director and CEO Ahmad Ziyad Elias, who is one of the shareholders of Best Oracle Sdn Bhd. Best Oracle is the largest shareholder of CLIQ with a 20% stake.
Ziyad declined to comment when contacted.
Best Oracle in April this year filed for a judicial review of the SC's rejection of CLIQ's request for more time to pursue its US$110 million (RM430 million) QA, in a bid to keep the company from being liquidated.
The liquidation process is under way after Best Oracle's application for leave was rejected by the High Court.
In June, the High Court dismissed Best Oracle's application to strike out CLIQ's winding-up petition, and Best Oracle then appealed to the Court of Appeal, which fixed Aug 15 for case management.