SINGAPORE Post (SingPost) has fired three of its senior management executives as they were found to be negligent in the handling of internal investigations over a whistleblower’s report.
They are group chief executive Vincent Phang, group chief financial officer Vincent Yik, and the chief executive of the company’s international business unit (IBU) Li Yu.
Here’s what occurred leading up to and after the termination of the three senior executives.
– Earlier in 2024, SingPost received a whistleblowing report relating to its non-regulated international e-commerce logistics parcels business.
– A whistleblowing report on the same matter was also sent to the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.
– SingPost starts investigations.
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– It finds that three managers in the IBU have committed “serious breaches” in the company’s code of conduct while handling delivery for one of the company’s largest customers. They had performed or approved manual updates of the “delivery failure” status code for parcels SingPost had agreed to deliver without supporting documents and even though no delivery attempt had been made.
– SingPost fires these three managers, and also files a police report.
– SingPost informs the customer about the whistleblowing reporting, as well as the findings. Both parties agree on a settlement, which includes paying a settlement sum.
– External professional advisers were engaged to review and assess the matter independently of management. An external law firm was also appointed.
– The group CEO, group CFO and the CEO of the IBU were found to be “grossly negligent” in the handling of the internal investigations.
– On Dec 22, SingPost announced it has fired the three executives.
– Phang was also asked to resign as a director of SingPost and all its related companies.
– Phang and Yik issued a joint statement on the same day, saying they will “vigorously contest” their terminations, rejecting the suggestion that they were negligent or inappropriate.
– Shares of SingPost dived when the market opened for trading on Dec 23.
