KUALA LUMPUR — The Employee Stock Options Scheme (ESOS) at KNM was meant to reward the people who keep the company running. Instead, nearly 84% of the shares issued over the past two years went to a tight circle around Executive Director Gan Siew Liat. That leaves roughly 30.5 million units for the rest of the workforce. Employees are angry. They want those shares back.
The numbers are stark. Of 185,850,000 KNM ESOS units issued, 155,350,000 went to seven people. Six are family. One is a director who does not even work there. The largest single grant — 60,000,000 shares — went to Lee Swee Eng. He is the former Group CEO and Gan Siew Liat’s husband. He is also on trial for insider trading. That trial starts May 22, 2021. How a man charged with a crime against shareholders and employees got the biggest slice of a staff benefit scheme is the question rattling the company floor.
Gan Siew Liat gave herself 40,000,000 shares. She is the Executive Director and HR manager. Employees say she showed up to work fewer than three times in the past year. Her daughter, Sara Lee Mei Ching, received 25,000,000 shares. Chew Fook Sin, the brother-in-law, got 18,000,000. Two cousins — Justine Gan Hai Cheing and Wong Lay Fong — received 350,000 and 2,000,000 shares respectively. And MD Rizal Bahari Bin Md Noor, a non-employee director, was granted 10,000,000 shares.
Workers who actually run the plants and offices are demanding the shares be returned. They want redistribution to employees who contribute to the company’s bottom line. The complaint is simple: the scheme was hijacked. An ESOS is a retention and incentive tool. It is supposed to align staff interests with company performance. Instead, it appears to have been used as a family trust fund.
This is not the first time the Gan family has drawn scrutiny. Lee Swee Eng’s insider trading charge already hung over the company. Now the ESOS diversion adds a second layer. The company’s governance is in question. The ESOS committee, which Gan Siew Liat chairs, approved the allocations. The board allowed it. Shareholders are now watching where the next shoe drops.
The legal consequences are unclear. The Employees Provident Fund and other institutional investors may demand answers. The trial of Lee Swee Eng on May 22 could bring further evidence to light. If convicted, he faces jail time. That would not undo the ESOS grants, but it would put a spotlight on the committee’s decisions.
For now, the 30.5 million shares that went to actual employees look like a token. The workforce is left to wonder: if the scheme meant to reward them can be gutted this thoroughly, what else is being diverted? The company’s reputation has taken a hit. So has staff morale. A scheme designed to build loyalty has done the opposite.
The next move belongs to the employees. They have made their demand public. Whether the board or Gan Siew Liat responds remains to be seen. The trial date is circled on many calendars.
