The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has proof that Suphanan Rittiphairoj, chief executive and director of embattled Inter Far East Energy Corporation Plc (IFEC), has a tendency to obstruct the company's meetings to prevent the selection process of new directors.
Mr Suphanan attempted to hamper the company's board meetings, including refusal to attend meetings held on May 23 and June 19, along with refraining from facilitating the scheduling of those meetings, the SEC said in a release.
Such behaviour has caused IFEC's business problems to remain unresolved and could be in violation of Section 89/7 of the Securities and Exchange Act, according to the SEC.
The market regulator has given Mr Suphanan until July 12 to clarify his alleged wrongdoing before proceeding with legal procedure.
The SEC said IFEC urgently needs to select new directors to lawfully proceed with setting up a board meeting in order to resolve business problems such as debt default.
The company also needs to submit financial statements to the Stock Exchange of Thailand to prevent de-listing and prevent further losses among shareholders and investors, said the securities watchdog.
Earlier, the SEC instructed the company to immediately hold a shareholders' meeting to proceed with selecting new directors and resume the company's operations.
The two IFEC directors at the board meeting on May 23 had a mandate to set up an extraordinary shareholders' meeting within 45 days and elect six new directors to fill the vacant positions.
That meeting was organised by Boonlert Jangnopparat and Chatnarong Chatrabhuti -- representing two-thirds of the current members of the company's board of directors.
But Mr Suphanan, who asked the Commerce Ministry's Business Development Department to register Wiphu Maharakkhaka and Manusak Deawwanich as two more directors, did not join the meeting and did not accept the meeting's outcome.
The Business Development Department has officially declared that IFEC only has three directors and recognised the May 23 meeting as completely legal.
Electing six new members for vacancies, as the board originally had nine directors, and allowing a single shareholder or a group of shareholders with no less than 5% of subscribed shares to propose candidate nomination for the vacant director positions are among the meeting's significant resolutions.
As reported earlier, the appointments of Mr Wiphu and Mr Manusak as IFEC directors were rejected by the department because they were appointed by former chairman and chief executive Wichai Thavornwattanayong.
Mr Wichai was accused by the SEC of failure to disclose information about the firm's default on bills of exchange.
He benefited from refraining to disclose related information because his IFEC shares, worth 57.46 million baht, were used as collateral for the company's margin trading and were not subject to forced sale, the SEC said.
Mr Wichai also used his status as an IFEC shareholder to exercise his voting rights during three shareholder meetings last year for his own benefit, in violation of the Securities and Exchange Act, according to the SEC.
