Sacked Singpost CEO & CFO challenge termination, say it's 'without merits & procedurally unfair'

The former chief executive (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) of Singapore Post (SingPost), who were fired on Dec. 21, are refuting the reasons given for their sacking.

Former CEO Vincent Phang and former CFO Vincent Yik said in a statement to the media on Dec. 23 that their termination over a whistleblower’s report is "without merits, and was also procedurally unfair".

They also "categorically reject" any suggestion that they were "grossly negligent".

Phang, Yik and a third executive, Li Yu, the former CEO of an international business unit at SingPost, were sacked with immediate effect on Dec. 21 after investigations were concluded following a whistleblower’s report.

This is the statement of Phang and Yik in full:

“We refer to the decision by the board of Singapore Post Ltd (SingPost) to terminate our employment. We disagree with and are disappointed at the decision of the board to terminate us from our roles at the company after years of dedicated and committed service. It is our position that the termination is without merits, and was also procedurally unfair.

With specific reference to the whistleblowing case highlighted by the board, we would like to state that company policy stipulates that the independent Group Internal Audit (GIA) will investigate all whistleblowing cases. As such, we dutifully presented the case to GIA to investigate, providing it with the required space and latitude to conduct its investigation.

The board has stated that we had failed to consider material facts in the case. The facts unfolded over time and the causative correlation and impact was not established immediately. We had responded to questions based on facts that were presented to us at the time while respecting the independent investigation that was ongoing. We acted immediately once the correlation and impact had been established.

We categorically reject any suggestion that we were grossly negligent, had behaved inappropriately or had sought to misrepresent facts at any point.

We have at all times during our tenure at SingPost acted in the best interests of the company and held ourselves to the highest standards of leadership and management, and will seek recourse against any allegations to the contrary.

We will vigorously contest the termination of our employment, both on merits and on the grounds of procedural unfairness.”

What happened

A whistleblowing report was filed earlier this year.

A whistleblowing report on the same matter was also sent to the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA).

SingPost conducted investigations as a result.

It was discovered that three managers in the international business unit either performed or approved the manual manipulation of delivery status codes for some e-commerce parcels of one of SingPost's largest customers.

The status of these parcels were reflected as delivery failure.

The manual manipulation of these delivery status codes was allegedly done with the intention of avoiding contractual penalties under the agreement with one of SingPost's largest customers.

However, it was a breach of SingPost's code of conduct.

The three managers were already fired after SingPost’s internal investigation and reported to the police.

Independent external reviewers were hired to assess the situation and they looked into how the SingPost management handled the investigations.

External auditors and a law firm were required as the SingPost internal audit committee had “no assurance concerning management’s representations and handling of the internal investigations”.

SingPost then found that the group CEO, group CFO and the CEO of the IBU were “grossly negligent” in the handling of the internal investigations.

Phang, Yik and Li were found to have not considered material facts that compromised their decision-making, and/or failed to perform their duties responsibly and reliably.

The board of SingPost lost confidence in the executives, who were subsequently terminated.

Top photos via Vincent Phang X & SingPost