The ICC and The Bursa Malaysia

If any of you thought that the reference to the ICC was in relation to the current Twenty20 cricket tournament being played out in India, I am sorry to disappoint. No in this article I am referring to the International Criminal Court.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague is one of those organisations under the United Nations, created to bring to bear the full brunt of the law against war criminals. But one thing glaring about the ICC is that all the recent cases are primarily against leaders from the African continent, with the exception to the guys from the former Yugoslavia.

To date there have been no cases against the leaders from Israel or more importantly against George Bush and Tony Blair for the illegal war waged on Iraq, the untold death and misery brought on the people of Iraq. It is a no wonder that the Chilcot Report (in the UK, on the Iraq war) is being delayed, probably it maybe alluding to the fact that those responsible for the Iraq situation need to be charged at the ICC too!

To put it plainly, the powerful do things with impunity, without regard to rules and regulations, knowing that they can get away with it, whilst the insignificant and those that can be sacrificed, get paraded as part of the success and KPIs and (probably) to justify the institution's existence.

Our Bursa Malaysia is not very dissimilar to the ICC, just like the ICC they too have very well defined rules and regulations and for those that are directors of entities listed on this exchange, they  require them to sign letters of compliances, that they will abide by all the rules and regulations.

Just like the ICC, the Bursa only institutes actions against those that are weak or maybe those that are not connected or maybe those that they do not favour, whilst proclaiming loudly the many actions that are taken (against the unknown).

Now before I am accused of being malicious and not providing examples, without divulging too much, I will cite three examples of this bias (why three, you see I look at things with this perspective, it happens once, ignore, its a blip; it happens twice it's a coincidence; now if it happens three or three and more, then there is a pattern emerging!).

So Bursa please explain why no punishment, at least a public reprimand, in these types of infringements:

1. All directors that join the Board of a listed company are required to attend what is know as a Mandatory Accredition Program and must finish this within a stipulated time period, can The Bursa please state that all those that have failed to comply have been issued reprimand letters?

2. Have all persons that have flouted the rules on independent director, especially bursa's prescriptive rules, been issued letters of reprimands.

3. Have all person that had suffered penalties and sanctions, other than traffic offences, made such declarations and if not have letters of reprimands issued. After all the intention is that the investing public will be better informed of the characters behind the listed companies.

I am not alone in this opinion, that action is never taken against the well connected, but then again, it could be a failure in the system and processes, or it could be a failure on the part of the people that are in charge of regulatory compliances, maybe being too long in the job, resulting in misguided confidence or arrogance. Now don't forget, it happens once, ignore, its a blip, it happens twice it's a coincidence, now if it happens three or three and more, then there is a pattern emerging! So which is it? 

In any case not much dissimilarity between the ICC and the Bursa Malaysia, two institutions that are required to apply the rules and regulations fairly and squarely but falling short of fairness!