Singapore Post Terminates CEO and CFO Over Whistleblower Report Handling

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Singapore Post (SingPost) has fired its CEO, Vincent Phang, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Vincent Yik, following an internal investigation into the handling of a whistleblower report. The investigation was initiated after a report alleged that several employees had manually submitted information to avoid contracted penalties with one of SingPost's largest customers. This report was also sent to a government regulator.

The investigation revealed that Phang, Yik, and Li Yu, CEO of SingPost’s international business unit, were "grossly negligent" in handling the matter and made "serious misrepresentations" to the audit committee over the allegations. As a result, three managers were dismissed for the violations, and a police report was filed against them.

The termination of Phang and Yik has been met with resistance, as both executives plan to contest their dismissals, arguing that the move was "without merits" and "procedurally unfair." They reject any suggestion of gross negligence and intend to vigorously contest the termination on both grounds.

Despite the leadership changes, SingPost plans to announce a new CEO in due course and has appointed Isaac Mah, currently CFO of its Australian business, to replace Yik. In the interim, Chairman Simon Israel will oversee the senior management of the company. The company has also stated that the settlement paid to the unidentified customer will not have a material impact on its net tangible assets or earnings per share for the current financial year.