[SPECIAL REPORT] On Hasrat Budi and faces behind firm with 10% ownership of MySJ

KUALA LUMPUR – The ownership dispute in the MySejahtera fiasco continues to spiral down a legal rabbit hole – this time revealing an outfit with at least a 10% stake in MySJ Sdn Bhd (MySJ), the government-appointed special purpose vehicle company slated to take over ownership of the app.

Registered on August 23, 2021, Hasrat Budi Sdn Bhd is one of four MySJ’s shareholders, holding on to 3.56 million of the company’s 35.5 million shares. It recently filed a suit against MySejahtera developers Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd, MySJ and several others over a dispute related to a share sale agreement.

MySJ’s other shareholders are minority stakeholder P2 Asset Management Sdn Bhd, which earlier filed a similar suit against the other MySJ’s shareholders, majority stakeholder Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd and Ganesan Shanmugam with a 1.4% stake in the company.

Who owns Hasrat Budi?

According to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, all of Hasrat Budi’s RM2 issued shares are owned by EcoWorld Development Group, a public-listed company trading at RM1.04 per stock and a market capitalisation of RM3.06 billion.

Hasrat Budi has two directors, Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, 64, and Datuk Heah Kok Boon, 55.

Liew also sits as EcoWorld Development’s director and executive chairman, while Heah is the group’s chief financial officer and was recently made its alternative director.

Who are Liew and Heah?

Liew, a banker by profession, made a name for himself as the chief executive officer of property developer SP Setia Bhd, at one point Malaysia’s largest property developer by market capitalisation.

Liew held the position of CEO for 18 years before making the transition to EcoWorld Development in 2014.

The businessman was at one point listed among Forbes Malaysia’s 50 richest individuals, with a net worth that peaked at US$260 million (RM1.09 billion) in 2012.

EcoWorld Development’s Heah, meanwhile, is said to have over 30 years of accounting and auditing experience from his tenure at the accounting and auditing firm KPMG.

He teamed up with Liew in SP Setia from 2007 to 2013, where he worked as its head of corporate affairs overseeing the company’s financial strategies, mergers, and acquisition exercises before joining EcoWorld Development.

Legal wrangling

Barely eight months after its inception, Hasrat Budi filed an originating summons against the MySejahtera app developers and fellow MySJ shareholders, accusing them of breaching a share sale agreement.

According to court documents sighted by The Vibes, Hasrat Budi named Entomo Malaysia, Revolusi Asia, Raveenderen Ramamoothie, Anuar Rozhan, Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin, and MySJ as defendants.

Raveenderen is also listed as CEO and founder of Singapore-based Entomo Pte Ltd, the parent company of Entomo Malaysia.

He is listed alongside Anuar and Naveen Pralhal Deshpande as shareholders of Revolusi Asia, with Raveenderan, Naveen, and Shahril also listed as company directors.

Hasrat Budi said in its suit that Raveenderen, Anuar, Entomo Malaysia and Revolusi Asia had acted against the agreement concerning the governance and composition of MySJ.

The company said it was exploited in dealings between the other defendants, citing examples of board meetings being called off at the last minute and the installation of Anuar and Shahril as directors without prior approval from other shareholders.

“It is clear that Raveenderen, Anuar Rozhan, Entomo Malaysia, and/or Revolusi Asia are attempting to take control of the board of directors of the company, despite the mutual understanding between the parties,” Hasrat Budi said in its suit.

Hasrat Budi are seeking the removal of Anuar and Shahril as company directors, and for Raveenderen to remain as a director to sit alongside Liew and another independent director yet to be appointed.

The high court has yet to set a date to hear Hasrat Budi’s case. – The Vibes, April 6, 2022

Part 1 of our special report: Lifting the corporate veil on MySejahtera’s intricate business web leading to Singapore
Part 2 of our special report: How a Singaporean venture capitalist fits into MySejahtera