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Eddie Chuah

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Eddie Chuah is a partner with the Dispute Resolution and Compliance Practice Group. He is involved in all aspects of civil litigation, arbitration, industrial relations disputes and compliance.
He undertakes a wide variety of briefs as lead counsel in complex litigation and arbitration matters. His briefs include all types' of commercial disputes including post M&A disputes, restructuring and insolvency litigation. He also focuses on compliance issues, in particular, anti-corruption investigation, government procurement, fraud, audit and prevention.
Eddie is listed as an “Up and Coming” lawyer in Dispute Resolution by Chambers Asia Pacific 2024 and is listed as a “Leading Individual” for Labour and Employment and for Dispute Resolution by Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024 with clients commenting on his ability to “navigate complex legal issues”. Client feedback highlighted that Eddie is “knowledgeable, commercially savvy and technically strong” during a Chambers Asia Pacific 2024 interview. He has also been recognised by Benchmark Litigation as a Future Star in the areas of Commercial and Transactions (2019 – 2023), Construction, Insolvency and Labour & Employment (2019 – 2021). Eddie was also awarded Young Lawyer of the Year at the Asian Legal Business Malaysia Law Awards in 2018. He is regularly sought after for his ability to simplify complex disputes and legal issues and to provide strategic input to implement solutions to assist clients in achieving desired outcomes.

On 12 July 2024, the Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment (“Tribunal”) established under the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 (“Act”), issued its first award in a sexual harassment case involving a male employer and a female employee. This development is a timely reminder that sexual harassment cases occurring within the workplace can still be heard by the Tribunal under the Act, and that employers owe legal duties to its employees in managing workplace sexual harassment.

The Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living had appointed 1 April 2024 as the date of coming into force of the Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 (“CA 2024”), which was first tabled for reading before the Dewan Rakyat on 10 October 2023, and received Royal Assent on 24 January 2024. CA 2024 expands the definition of Beneficial Ownership (BO) and mandates companies to obtain and disclose BO information from 1 April 2024. Companies must maintain a BO register accessible by prescribed persons. Corporate Rescue Mechanisms allow companies to apply for restraining orders and introduce a “pre-pack” scheme mechanism and a “cross-class cramdown” system.

It has been three years since Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 came into effect, with the first charge under the provision made in 2021. The recent array of actions by the MACC coupled with the “zero tolerance for corruption” policy launched by the Madani Government provide a timely reminder of the importance of businesses in (i) reviewing their existing procedures and (ii) ensuring adequate procedures are in place to prevent bribery as they afford the only defense against liability under Section 17A.

On 26 August 2022, the Minister of Human Resources announced a delay to the implementation date of the amendments to the Malaysian Employment Act. The amendments to the EA were originally anticipated to take effect on 1 September 2022, but this has reportedly been deferred to 1 January 2023. The Minister had clarified that this delay would allow employers to focus, in the short term, on recovering from the difficult economic situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. This would also, practically, provide a longer runway for employers to assess their employment benefits for compliance under the amended EA.