KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Multi-Usage Holdings Bhd (MUH) has once again received a qualified opinion from its external auditor for its latest financial statement, with regards to the group’s debt restructuring exercise in 2009.

Messrs UHY said that except for the matter related to the debt restructuring, MUH’s financial statement for the year ended June 30, 2023 (FY2023) gives a “true and fair” view of its financial position, performance and cash flow, according to MUH's bourse filing on Monday.

The debt restructuring in 2009 was meant to clear MUH and its subsidiaries’ debt worth RM36.13 million by entering into a series of agreements with a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) called Wealthy Achiever Sdn Bhd.

However, a special audit in 2016 found that the SPV is connected to certain MUH directors, including the late Tan Chew Hua, whose directorship was suspended following the investigation.

UHY, just like its predecessor Messrs Baker Tilly Monteiro Heng, said it was not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to determine the nature and extent of the relationship between the MUH group of companies and the SPV.

“Consequently, we were unable to determine whether the company (MUH) had control over the SPV; and the completeness of the comparative disclosures relating to the related party transactions between the group and the SPV,” it said.

Tan, the former director, also had a dispute with MUH over his suspension, but both parties withdrew the matter from the Federal Court in June this year and the matter is deemed to be closed upon the mutual settlement between them.

Qualified opinion is one of the four opinions that an external auditor provides. It essentially means that only a certain part of a financial statement could not be verified by an auditor, while the rest of it provides a “true and fair” view of a company’s financial position, performance and cash flows.

Shares of MUH closed unchanged at 52 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM29.34 million.

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Multi Usage’s debt restructuring fiasco in 2009 remains unresolved, auditor expresses qualified opinion for FY22