IN A response to queries from stakeholders, Singapore Post (SingPost) has released a detailed account of its due process leading up to the recent termination of the group’s three senior executives.
This ensured that the affected executives were given the opportunity to be heard before the board decided to fire them, said the group in a statement on Sunday night (Dec 29).
Doing so also emphasised the group’s “commitment to upholding high standards of corporate governance and accountability”, it added.
Two phases of the investigation were outlined in SingPost’s response to stakeholders.
Phase 1: IBU staff fired, settlement made
The first phase focused on the e-commerce shipment data falsification which was identified through two whistle-blower reports, which prompted the board to take “decisive action through rigorous internal investigations and the engagement of external advisers”.
SingPost said its investigations determined that the issue was isolated and limited only to a specific customer, and the practices of three staff from its international business unit (IBU) operations.
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At the conclusion of the investigations arising from the whistle-blower reports, the trio were found to have manually keyed in “delivery failure” (DF) status codes to falsely indicate that delivery was attempted for a significant number of parcels, but failed.
SingPost said all three were provided an opportunity to respond to the allegations of misconduct against them, before they were later terminated following the conclusion of its disciplinary proceedings.
While the three former IBU operations staff challenged their terminations, the group said these were eventually withdrawn or not proceeded with.
On the same day, SingPost filed a Nov 11 police report against the trio, the group also commenced disciplinary proceedings against its three executives Vincent Yik, Vincent Phang and Li Yu.
Phang was SingPost’s group chief executive officer at the time, while Yik was group chief financial officer. Yu was chief executive of the IBU.
Separately, SingPost said it informed the affected customer of the issue and settled with the customer privately. Terms of the settlement are confidential, maintained the group, though the amount is not deemed to have a material impact on the group’s financial metrics for the financial years ended March 2024 and ending March 2025.
Phase 2: “Serious misrepresentations” by management
In the second phase of investigations, SingPost said the key issue centred on governance expectations and proper conduct by its management in the matter.
Though SingPost said external investigations contained “clear evidence substantiating the allegations by the whistle-blowers”, Phang, Yik and Yu were found to have “made serious misrepresentations concerning the whistle-blowers’ allegations” to the audit committee from Mar 11 to Apr 3, 2024.
These included false assertions on the purpose of the manual “DF” data entries, as well as claims that the practice of manually keying in “DF” data entries were requested by the customer.
SingPost said that if the audit committee had relied on, and accepted these misrepresentations, the practice of making false “DF” data entries would “likely have continued”.
Amid the disciplinary proceedings against Phang, Yik and Yu, the group said it also sought and obtained a second opinion on the matter from “a senior counsel at another leading law firm” to “ensure fairness and independence”.
Announcing the three executives’ terminations only after a conclusion had been reached also “ensured fairness to the parties involved in the disciplinary process”, said SingPost.
Sale of Australia freight business to continue
In both its responses to stakeholders, SingPost reiterated that its proposed divestment of its Australia business to Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) was expected to proceed, as the group continues to search for suitable replacements for the three recently vacated senior roles.
This reaffirmed an earlier report by The Business Times where PEP said the proposed divestment was not affected by Phang, Yik and Yu’s sudden exits.
SingPost’s board is due to seek shareholder approval for the divestment at an extraordinary meeting which is expected to be held in February 2025.
“The board is working closely with the management team to ensure the successful completion of the proposed divestment,” said SingPost in its statements to the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) and stakeholders.
It also added that the group’s business operations continue as usual, with leadership succession plans in place.
In the interim, SingPost’s board chairman Simon Israel will provide guidance and oversight to the senior management leadership team.
The group intends for the current CFO of its Australia business Isaac Mah to return to Singapore and assume the role of group CFO. SingPost’s current head for the south district IBU Gan Heng has been appointed as the unit’s acting CEO.
Shares of SingPost were trading flat at S$0.52 as at 9.44 am on Monday.
