HC Surgical shareholder blames CEO for breach of duty

This was related to the hiking of its stake in Julian Ong Endoscopy & Surgery.

A shareholder of Singapore-based HC Surgical Specialists alleged that the company’s CEO and executive director Heah Sieu Min has breached his duties related to the acquisition of additional interest in Julian Ong Endoscopy & Surgery, an SGX filing revealed.

The company received a letter from Ong Ying Ping ESQ as the solicitor for Serene Tiong Sze Yin, a shareholder of 100 shares in the issued share capital of the company as at 30 April.

HC Surgical said that it has consulted its legal adviser on the matter, claiming that the allegation is “frivolous and is without merit.”

It acquired an additional 19% stake in Julian Ong Endoscopy & Surgery in September 2019 for $2.68m (S$3.8m), which was paid through issuance of 1.76 million new shares and about $1.98m (S$2.8m) in cash.

In response to a media report that the subsidiary’s surgeon Julian Ong lost a defamation suit against a woman who claimed that he took advantage of patients, HC Surgical announced that he is still working with the company whilst waiting for the outcome of the investigations by the Singapore Medical Council.