Shareholders could lose value in their investments if evidence links companies to illegal activity contributing to Singapore’s haze, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat warned at an investor awards event Oct. 21.
Chee said companies may face legal and financial penalties for unlawful conduct that causes cross-border haze. He said the government would act against firms and individuals when facts and evidence show they have broken Singapore law. Such consequences could affect shareholders as well as company management, he said.
His warning comes as Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) tracks fires and smoke in Indonesia. The agency sent preventive notices to seven companies on Oct. 16 concerning fires in Sumatra.
On Oct. 19, NEA announced plans to notify three more companies concerning fires in Kalimantan. It cited indications that smoke from fires on land held under the companies’ concessions may have reached Singapore. Neither the Oct. 16 notices nor the Oct. 19 announcement established responsibility for the haze.
David Gerald, founder, president and chief executive of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), said the association encourages investors to examine companies’ sustainability practices and described poor environmental records as a concern. Gerald said the destruction of forests and green spaces harms public health. Gerald also said people who fund companies linked to such harm, even indirectly, bear some responsibility for its effects.
In earlier remarks, Senior Minister K Shanmugam linked the recurring haze to companies pursuing profit and recalled haze episodes in 2013 and 2015.
Chee outlined a separate investor education project at the awards event. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), where he is deputy chairman, will help the association prepare guides that draw out key information from initial public offering documents. The guides will help investors assess offerings without recommending whether to invest.
NEA forecast a PSI reading of 101 to 160, an unhealthy range, for Oct. 22. The agency advised people to check live one-hour PM2.5 readings before outdoor activities.
