National carmaker Proton is looking into an audit report which accused the company's previous management of poor corporate governance.

Proton's managing director, Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, said the company was examining the PricewaterhouseCoopers report and did not rule out legal action against the previous management, the New Straits Times said.

"We are looking into details of the matter. For now, it is quite early to say whether there will be legal action," Syed Zainal was quoted as telling the newspaper.

"It is natural for the new management to find any weaknessess if it wants to improve the company. We do a lot of reviews on the (company's) current and past operations," he added.

No proper consultation

The Edge financial weekly over the weekend said the PricewaterhouseCoopers report revealed that approval from the board of directors was only sought after decisions had been made or agreements signed by management.

Some projects were implemented without proper consultation and billions of ringgit were spent without in-depth discussions, according to the weekly.

The audit firm's report was requested by the present Proton management in September last year, with the findings going as far back as 1996 until late 2005.

Tengku Mahaleel Ariff was Proton's chief executive from 1997 until he was ousted in July last year.

Tengku Mahaleel oversaw the purchase of debt-ridden motorcycle maker Agusta for 70 million euros in 2004. Upon his departure, Proton sold Agusta to Italy's Gevi SPA for a token sum of one euro.

A company spokesperson told AFP that Proton was scheduled to release a statement later today in response to the audit report.