PUBLIC BANK BHD MADE A CLEAN sweep in the ‘Malaysian Business-CIMA Enterprise Governance Awards 2009’, beating a strong field of other Bursa Malaysia-listed companies. The bank repeated its impressive feat in winning top recognition in the past years by snapping up the ‘Best Return to Shareholder’ and ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) categories, as well as the main ‘Enterprise Governance Award’. Public Bank Managing Director Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek received the awards from the guest-of-honour Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry.
Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) was the first runner-up for the ‘Enterprise Governance Award’ while Tenaga Nasional Bhd took the second runner-up spot. Merit awards went to LPI Capital Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) and UMW Holdings Bhd. TechnoDex Bhd, meanwhile, won in the Mesdaq (now ACE) category. Hai-O Enterprise Bhd was the first runnerup in the ‘Best Return to Shareholder’ category while Digi.Com Bhd was second runner-up. As for the ‘CSR’ category, Telekom Malaysia was first runner-up while Malayan Banking Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd shared honours in a two-way tie for the second runner-up spot. The winners were evaluated on corporate governance principles and best practices. Mustapa in his speech said that good governance alone would not make a company successful.
‘In today’s environment where companies are increasingly being judged by consumers, investors and the community on their perceived corporate morality, it is important that companies also balance good corporate governance with the creation of sustainable value. This, in spirit, is what enterprise governance is all about,’ he said. The winners were selected by a panel of judges led by its Chairman Yeo Tek Ling, the Honorary Secretary of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Other members of the panel were Tan Sri Ramon V Navaratnam, Head of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, Datuk Dr Mohd Tap Salleh, President of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, Rita Benoy Bushon, the CEO of the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group and Teo Ee Sing, a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA’s) Malaysian Advisory Committee. The entire judging process was vetted by KPMG, represented by its Partner, Lee Min On. According to Yeo, the standard of governance among the top shortlisted c o m p a n i e s h a v e s h o w n m a r k e d improvement despite the challenging economic environment. ‘However, we find that there are still areas where companies can and should improve their level of governance,’ he added. Also present at the awards ceremony were Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd Chairman Datuk Mohd Bisharuddin Mohd Noor Basha and Editor-in-Chief Datuk A Kadir Jasin and director Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Abdullah Shahabudin.
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