British American Tobacco Malaysia - BAT Malaysia Announces Redesignation of Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Nizom Sairi as Chairman
Kuala Lumpur, 31 December 2025 – British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Berhad (BAT Malaysia) today announced the redesignation of Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Nizom Sairi as Chairman of the Board, effective 1 January 2026. He will succeed Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Aseh bin Haji Che Mat, who completes his nine-year tenure as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Group on 31 December 2025, in line with BAT Malaysia’s governance requirements.
Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Nizom was earlier appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of BAT Malaysia on 1 October 2025. He brings extensive experience across both government and corporate sectors, particularly in governance and taxation policies. He began his career with the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) in 1985 and served the organisation for 38 years, culminating in his appointment as Chief Executive Officer / Director General in 2021. He retired from public service in December 2023.
He held several senior leadership roles during his tenure at IRBM, and represented Malaysia internationally, including as Chairman of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (2021–2024), Head of Executive Council Association of Tax Authorities of Islamic Countries (2021-2023) and Chairman of the Study Group of Asia-Pacific Tax Administration and Research (2022-2023).
Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Nizom currently serves as Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Varia Berhad and is also an Independent and Non-Executive Director of Jati Tinggi Group Berhad. He holds a Master’s Degree in Information System Management from Lawrence Technological
University, Michigan, USA, and a Bachelor of Science from Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada. He is also an Adjunct Professor at UNITAR International University and an Honorary Professor at the University of Cyberjaya.
His visionary leadership saw IRBM record its highest revenue collection for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023). He is also a strong advocate for digitalisation and governance initiatives – supporting real-time taxation processes to make tax compliance more seamless, introducing the Tax Corporate Governance Programme, and driving the e-invoicing initiative. These initiatives aimed to improve tax administration, make compliance sustainable, and reduce the size of the shadow economy.
His deep understanding of institutional governance and stakeholder engagement is expected to further strengthen the Board’s oversight and stewardship of BAT Malaysia.
The Board expresses its appreciation to Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Aseh for his leadership, guidance and valuable contributions to BAT Malaysia during his tenure as Chairman. This leadership transition underscores BAT Malaysia’s commitment to strong corporate governance and Board renewal.
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Forward-looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements, including "forward-looking" statements made within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions. These include statements regarding our customer target ambition, New Categories revenue targets and our ESG targets.
All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors. It is believed that the expectations reflected in this release are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. A review of the reasons why actual results and developments may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within forward-looking statements can be found by referring to the information contained under the headings “Cautionary Statement” and "Group Principal Risks " in the 2024 Annual Report and Form 20-F of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT).
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in BAT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F and Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov and BAT’s Annual Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the BAT website www.bat.com.
Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this release and BAT undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
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