Singapore Post (SingPost), a postal service provider, has dismissed three senior management members including its group CEO Vincent Phang, group CFO Vincent Yik, and Li Yu, chief executive of SingPost’s International Business Unit (IBU) with immediate effect on 21 December concluding an investigation prompted by a whistle blower. Phang has also been asked to resign as a director of SingPost and all its related entities in line with his contractual obligations, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing on 22 December.
SingPost plans to announce its new group CEO “in due course.” Meanwhile, Isaac Mah, currently CFO of SingPost’s Australian subsidiary FMH Group, will step into the role of group CFO. An acting CEO will temporarily lead the IBU while the board conducts a review of the unit, though no permanent replacement for the international business chief executive is being proposed at this stage. Board chairman Simon Israel will oversee the transition, providing additional guidance and exercising greater oversight of the senior management team.
The whistle-blower’s report, which concerned SingPost’s non-regulated international e-commerce logistics parcels business, led to an internal investigation that revealed “serious breaches” of the company’s code of conduct by three IBU managers. These individuals had made unauthorised manual updates to deliveries for one of the company’s largest customers, actions that were not aligned with standard processes.
The employment of the three managers was terminated earlier, and SingPost has filed a police report against them. Additionally, the company engaged an external law firm to evaluate the handling of the matter by senior management. The review concluded that Phang, Yik, and Li were “grossly negligent” in their management of the internal investigations, failing to consider critical facts and compromising their decision-making.
Both Phang and Yik, through their solicitors, indicated that they will be challenging the terminations on both the grounds of the decision and the fairness of the process. SingPost reassured the public that postal services in Singapore remain unaffected. Each business unit operates under its own leadership team, and all operations will continue as normal.
The customer involved in the whistle-blower report has been informed of the findings, and a settlement has been reached. This includes the payment of a settlement sum in lieu of penalties.
