IJM says less than 10 bank accounts frozen by MACC, no impact on ops

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): IJM Corp Bhd (KL:IJM) said the freezing of several of its bank accounts by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has no impact on the group’s day-to-day business operations.

In a statement, IJM said that access to fewer than 10 of its bank accounts were restricted "to facilitate the process" of ongoing investigations by the MACC.

"IJM is co-operating fully with the authorities in accordance with applicable laws and procedures. We remain committed to upholding strong standards of corporate governance, transparency and integrity," it said.

An earlier Bernama report quoted an MACC source as saying the agency had frozen 55 private and IJM-linked bank accounts involving an estimated RM15.8 million.

IJM earlier refuted allegations of money laundering and denied claims that it was being investigated by UK authorities, following reports of an alleged RM2.5 billion money-laundering scheme involving the group.

IJM said at that time it is not aware of any probe by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and clarified that neither the company nor its UK associates have been contacted by the British authority.

The group reiterated that the allegations were unfounded.

Meanwhile, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed that the investigation into IJM is now being conducted under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009 and Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).

IJM shares continued to slide on Wednesday, falling by more than 5% to an intraday low of RM2.43, before paring some losses to close at RM2.49, still down eight sen or 3.31%. This valued the group at RM8.73 billion, with more than 54.6 million shares traded.

The investigation came to light just days after IJM emerged as a takeover target for Sunway Bhd (KL:SUNWAY), which has proposed to acquire IJM in a share-and-cash deal that values the target company at slightly over RM11 billion.

Under the proposed cash-and-share deal, Sunway is offering RM3.15 per IJM share, comprising 31.5 sen in cash and 0.501 new Sunway shares.

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