Cordlife says chairman Goh Jin Hian can fulfil duty while assisting with CAD probe

CORDLIFE Group's board on Friday said it is supportive of Goh Jin Hian's continued service as chairman and independent director.

This is even as the 51-year-old - who is the son of former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong - is assisting with the Commercial Affairs Department's (CAD) investigations in relation to healthcare and energy firm New Silkroutes Group.

The Singapore police's CAD is looking into a possible offence under the Securities and Futures Act, and New Silkroutes on Wednesday said it understood that the alleged offence is false trading and market rigging, in view of past share buybacks and share purchases.

Dr Goh, who was chief executive officer (CEO) of New Silkroutes until he vacated the role on Thursday, is one of the individuals assisting CAD with the investigations. He remains the chairman of New Silkroutes.

Cordlife's board - with Dr Goh abstaining - on Friday said it is of the view that his assistance with the probe "does not compromise his ability to fulfil his duty as the chairman and independent director of the company", based on the information currently available to the board.

In its assessment of the suitability of Dr Goh's service on the board, Cordlife will monitor the progress of the CAD investigations, and will make further announcements as and when there are any material developments.

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The board will request that he updates it on the progress of the probe, in order for the company to comply with disclosure obligations under listing rules.

As far as the board is aware, the investigations are not related to Cordlife or its subsidiaries. Accordingly, the business and operations are not expected to be affected.

Besides Dr Goh, New Silkroutes finance director William Teo and its former chief corporate officer Kelvyn Oo are also assisting with the investigations. Mr Oo, who left New Silkroutes in August, is an independent director of Catalist-listed oil and gas-related company Teho International.

New Silkroutes on Thursday appointed a new CEO, specialist orthodontist VicPearly Wong.

Separately, Singapore's High Court has approved two major bank creditors' bid to fund Inter-Pacific Petroleum's (IPP) lawsuit against Dr Goh, IPP's former director, The Business Times reported. Societe Generale and Maybank are seeking to recover at least US$156 million in losses they claim were a result of Dr Goh's alleged negligence, according to court documents.

Shares of mainboard-listed Cordlife, which provides private cord-blood banking services, last traded on Wednesday at S$0.36.

Mainboard-listed New Silkroutes shares fell 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.9 per cent to trade at 10.6 cents as at 9.52am on Friday.