KUALA LUMPUR (April 11): Caely Holdings Bhd, which had appointed an independent forensic auditor to look into allegations of suspicious and irregular transactions, has said it will not be able to ascertain the financial and operational impact of the matters until the investigation is completed.

"The company shall update accordingly on the forensic audit investigation progress. Upon receipt of the forensic audit report, the company will take all necessary recourse available under the law upon taking further legal advice," the group said in a filing in response to Bursa Securities' request for additional information on the forensic audit.

The Perak-based lingerie group said the investigation is slated to be completed by May 31.

In the circumstances leading to the forensic investigation, Caely said one of the group's independent non-executive directors had received an anonymous package containing documents raising concerns about several suspicious transactions involving Caely's wholly-owned unit, Caely (M) Sdn Bhd (CMSB).

On April 7, the group announced that it had appointed Virdos Lima Consultancy (M) Sdn Bhd as its independent forensic auditor to look into the allegations of suspicious and irregular transactions at CMSB.

Caely's external auditor PKF had previously issued a qualified opinion on the group's audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2020 in relation to CMSB's ability to recover certain receivables.

The auditor noted that CMSB had trade receivables of close to RM12 million as of March 31, 2020 related to construction works for Felcra Bhd, which were completed on Feb 28, 2018.

However, only RM250,000 in repayment had been received by the company since completing the works, attributed to the change of government and the Covid-19 pandemic.

PKF said all payments for the construction had been delayed and in view of the prolonged delay, the carrying amount of trade receivables might be impaired due to the uncertainty over the recoverable amount.

"We are uncertain of the full recovery of certain trade receivables of the group amounting to RM11.995 million as at financial year end, as a substantial amount on the completed constructions payments have not been received.

"We were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence on the impairment assessment of the above-mentioned carrying amount of the said receivables in accordance with MFRS 9 Financial Instruments. Consequently, we were unable to determine whether any adjustments to these amounts were necessary," the auditor said.

Shares in Caely settled three sen or 5.94% lower at 47.5 sen on Monday, valuing the group at RM121.08 million.