Singapore Post (SingPost) has terminated the employment of its Group CEO Vincent Phang, Group CFO Vincent Yik, and Li Yu, CEO of its international business unit, after an internal investigation found negligence in their handling of a whistleblower report.
The report, which emerged earlier this year, accused employees in SingPost’s international business unit of manually altering delivery status codes for shipments intended for one of the company’s major clients. The alterations were reportedly made without justification and aimed at avoiding contractual penalties.
SingPost stated in a stock exchange filing that the three executives were found to be “grossly negligent” in addressing the whistleblower’s concerns, and in making serious misrepresentations to the audit committee. As a result, the company also dismissed three managers who were implicated in the incident. A police report has been filed against them.
Phang and Yik have denied the allegations and stated through legal representation that they will “vigorously contest” their dismissals, claiming that the actions taken against them were both without merit and procedurally unfair.
In the aftermath of the dismissals, SingPost announced plans to appoint a new Group CEO and stated that Isaac Mah, currently the CFO of SingPost’s Australian unit, will replace Yik as Group CFO, pending regulatory approval. Additionally, the company will appoint an acting CEO for the international business unit while a review of the division is conducted.
The company also confirmed that it had settled with the affected customer, although the settlement is not expected to materially affect its earnings for the current financial year. SingPost’s stock price took an 8% hit in early trading on Monday, following the announcement of the leadership changes.
The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times contributed to this report.
