UK High Commissioner appointed as patron of CMI Malaysia amid queries

Murray Hunter


UK High Commissioner appointed as patron of CMI Malaysia amid queries

Announcement of new chairman also raises a number of questions


JUL 18, 2024




Why did Major Dr Prebagaran Jayaraman suddenly leave as chairman of CMI Malaysia Regional Board. CMI gave him no testimony upon leaving.


On 17th July, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) on their UK website announced the appointment of Her Excellency Ailsa Terry, the UK High Commissioner to Malaysia as patron to a body called the “CMI Malaysia’s Regional Board”.

Her Excellency Ailsa Terry, the UK High Commissioner to Malaysia. The current high commissioner took over the patronage from the previous high commissioner Victoria Treadell.

The “CMI Malaysia Regional Board” is not part of CMI Management & Leadership Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, which is fully owned by CMI UK. The “CMI Malaysia Regional Board” is most likely a board/committee under CMI UK. In the UK, CMI is registered as a charity under Royal Charter.

What is perplexing is why would the UK High Commissioner to Malaysia become a Patron of an advisory board, when the Malaysian operating company has questions to answer on two fronts.

CorpatSecret stated that it seems that the announcement of nearly RM10 million in business shows that CMI Malaysia is making a profit. If around 4,000 students pay approximately RM1,500 for membership and 1,000 members who are not students but pay a similar annual fee of RM1,500 for the same package and at least 5,000 members means a collection of approximately RM7.5 million.

However, CMI Malaysia and its subsidiaries were announced as loss-making companies. More strangely everything was recorded as a debt of RM4.14 million (almost US$1 million) for operating expenses, mainly the salaries of CMI UK staff and was written off as bad debt in August 2023. When checked CMI's subsidiary in Malaysia has no assets, no income, and a loss of RM2 million recorded in the 2023 audit return at SSM.

According to CorpatSecret, CMI Malaysia is seen as a tax haven because it only owns RM1 shares controlled by CMI UK with only two directors namely Lucy Greggains, CFO and COO of CMI in the UK and one director namely Narresh AL Veerasingam. Who he is is unknown.

This tax avoidance model ensures that all fees and income from the 5,000 Malaysian members and 21 universities are paid to the UK where they are exempt from tax due to CMI's charitable status. Even in Malaysia, CMI is seen as an association. Only has subsidiaries namely Chartered Management Institute and CMI Management & Leadership Sdn Bhd (CMI-ML)

Money recycled from Malaysia is registered as a loan to CMI Malaysia from income, and when operating costs are deducted, the Malaysian entity records a financial loss each year so that no tax is paid in Malaysia as well.

During the period 2019-2023, CMI did not pay tax on at least US$1 million of recycled income that was registered as a loan and then written off to provide a clean account.

The second issue is the sale of non-accredited certificates by an Association of Certified Management Institutes belonging to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) based in the UK causing the institute was investigated by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT).

Equally questionable is the appointment of a new chairman of the “CMI Malaysia Regional Borad”, only 10 months after the former chairman Major Dr Prebagaran Jayaraman was appointed. Dr Prebagaran was replaced with Prof Emeritus Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, who was just recently mentioned by the Malaysian Auditor-General for financial irregularities in the National Professors Council (NPC). The Auditor-General’s query relates to the NPR paying large allowances totalling RM 202,000 to the permanent chairperson and deputy chairperson, without ministerial approval. The auditors also found that RM373,516 of NPC funds were used to pay the operations of two companies owned by board of trustee members.” The NPC website states its chairperson since 2019 is UKM anthropologist Shamsul Amri Baharuddin while UUM political scientist Mohamed Mustafa Ishak is deputy chairperson.

Prof Emeritus Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak


CMI claim their reputation relies upon the integrity of their board members and testimonials. Why would CMI select Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, while he is embroiled in financial issues pointed out in the recent Auditor General’s report to parliament? There are calls in parliament for the NPC to be shut down due to the scandal involving Dr Mohamed Mustafa, and issues in the Ministry of Higher Education and City University.

One hopes Her Excellency Ailsa Terry was advised of the above before she took on the task of patron.