After a prolonged public engagement (or spat, if you like) with Business Times, YuuZoo has taken what may be the ultimate step.
This is likely to be welcomed by, among others, its shareholders -- who have suffered a 50% or so crash in the stock price since early March (which was even before the BT spat began) and a $55 million fall in the market value of YuuZoo.
According to its statement today (17 July 17), the Board has, at the suggestion of the Company’s Executive Chairman, decided on the following initiatives "to put an end to further speculation and misleading public claims":
 Thomas Zilliacus, executive chairman of YuuZoo. NextInsight file photo1. To appoint an independent third party to investigate the following claims and statements, and to report its findings and recommendations to Anthony Williams, the Company’s Lead Independent Director and a partner at the world’s largest law firm, for follow-up action: a. All claims raised in the 6 Business Times articles quoted above; b. All allegations raised by YuuZoo’s former Financial Controller, which allegations he at the request of the Company wrote down, and which allegations together with all material linked to them during the audit of FY 2016 were handed over to the auditors; c. All claims raised by YuuZoo’s former Financial Controller in an email sent to the SGX after he was terminated; d. All claims filed by former YuuZoo employees against YuuZoo’s former Financial Controller, including but not limited to two different police reports, one of which was filed for extortion, and five different complaints against him filed with YuuZoo’s management. 2. The Executive Chairman of the Company, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has informed the Board of the Company that he for the duration of the independent review, which review he has proposed and the Board has approved, will step down from his executive position, to ensure that there can be no claims of executive interference in the process. |
What the YuuZoo statement did not say:
1. Identity of the independent party (perhaps not finalised yet?);
2. How long it reckoned the independent review would take and, by extension, the duration that the Chairman, Thomas Zilliacus, will be away from his executive position.