Phrases used by parrots: "....spend more time with the family..."

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Interpol red notice against former YuuZoo boss over misleading statements by company​

Former executive chairman of YuuZoo, Mr Thomas Zilliacus, was in the news recently after he made a bid for Manchester United. PHOTO: BT FILE

Samuel Devaraj

FEB 21, 2024

SINGAPORE - A Singapore warrant of arrest and an Interpol red notice have been issued against the former executive chairman and chief executive of social media company YuuZoo, Mr Thomas Zilliacus.
They are over his alleged involvement in the release of misleading statements by the company, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Feb 21.
The Finnish national, who is a Singapore permanent resident, was in the news recently after he made a bid for football club Manchester United.
The SPF said aside from Mr Zilliacus, three other individuals linked to the company – former chief financial officer Michael Parker, and independent directors Anthony Williams and Ozi Amanat – are also said to be involved in the same matter.
All four are currently out of Singapore and have refused to return, the SPF said. “Warrants of arrest have been issued against them. An Interpol red notice has also been issued against YuuZoo’s then CEO/executive chairman Thomas Zilliacus,” it added.
A red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person.
Earlier on Feb 21, the company’s former CEO James Matthew Somasundram, 59, was charged in court over misleading statements that overstated YuuZoo’s revenues by millions of dollars.

Somasundram was handed four charges over the making of misleading statements that were likely to induce the purchase of securities by other persons under the Securities and Futures Act.
Under the Act, an officer of a company is guilty of an offence when an offence committed by the company is proved to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of that officer.
The offences allegedly committed by YuuZoo are attributable to Somasundram’s neglect, the charge sheets stated. Somasundram was appointed CEO of YuuZoo – which is now known as YuuZoo Networks Group – on Oct 1, 2015, and stepped down in November 2016 for health reasons.

According to court documents for Somasundram, YuuZoo, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard, allegedly made quarterly financial statements and dividend announcements that were released via the SGXNet Web platform in February, May, August and November in 2016.

Former YuuZoo CEO James Matthew Somasundram was charged in a district court on Feb 21 for the alleged offences that occurred in 2016. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
In the statements made for the fourth quarter of 2015, which were released in February 2016, the company was said to have overstated its revenue by US$18.8 million (S$25 million).
It was said to have overstated its revenue by $13.3 million in the statements made for the first quarter of 2016, and by $17.1 million in statements made for the second quarter of that year.
In the statements made for the third quarter of 2016, the company was said to have overstated its revenue by $8.9 million.
It is alleged that YuuZoo had known, or should have reasonably known, that the figures were misleading.
These alleged misleading overstatements were said to have likely induced other persons to purchase YuuZoo shares.
YuuZoo was co-founded in 2008 by Mr Zilliacus, who was CEO of the company before Somasundram. He resigned as chairman in April 2018 amid an investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) into the company.

In a filing to the SGX, the company said the investigation was started after a complaint from an unknown party. It added: “While he (Mr Zilliacus) is convinced nobody in the company has done anything wrong, he has informed the board he believes the honourable thing to do is to step aside while the investigation is ongoing.”
The Business Times reported at the time that CAD was investigating the company for possible breaches of the Securities and Futures Act.
Somasundram is represented by Mr Adam Muneer Yusoff Maniam and Ms Gina Ding Huaxing from Drew & Napier. His next court date is on March 20. For each charge he faces under the Securities and Futures Act, he can be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to $250,000, or both.

 

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In separate bourse filings late on Feb 29, Cordlife said Mr Joseph Wong had stepped down as chairman due to “personal family and health reasons”, with effect from Feb 28.

When times are good, there are no personal family and health problems. But when shit hits the fan, know how to chut pattern and all the personal family and health excuses come out.

Cordlife posts 50.3% drop in H2 profit as company chairman Joseph Wong steps down​

Processes at Cordlife hit the headlines after the health authorities revealed on Nov 30, 2023, that cryopreserved cord blood units in seven of its 22 storage tanks were exposed to suboptimal storage temperatures. PHOTO: CORDLIFE
Lee Li Ying
Correspondent

MAR 01, 2024

SINGAPORE – Private cord blood bank Cordlife Group reported a 50 per cent drop in second-half profit and the departure of its chairman amid a probe into improper storage methods that had damaged the cord blood units of more than 2,000 customers.
In separate bourse filings late on Feb 29, Cordlife said Mr Joseph Wong had stepped down as chairman due to “personal family and health reasons”, with effect from Feb 28.
Dr Ho Choon Hou, the vice-chairman and non-independent and non-executive director of the company, has been appointed acting chairman with effect from Feb 29 until the appointment of a new chairman.
The changes come after Cordlife on Feb 19 named former TransGlobal executive director Ivan Yiu Pang Fai as group chief executive following the resignation of Ms Tan Poh Lan in October 2023.
Cordlife also reported that its net profit for the six months to Dec 31 fell 50.3 per cent year on year to $1.5 million as revenue declined 4.5 per cent to $27.6 million. It blamed the drop in revenue on a decrease in new samples processed and stored in Singapore, India and Indonesia.
Processes at the cord blood banking firm hit the headlines after the health authorities revealed on Nov 30, 2023, that cryopreserved cord blood units in seven of its 22 storage tanks were exposed to suboptimal storage temperatures.
The company was given a six-month suspension by the Ministry of Health that began on Dec 15, 2023. Under the suspension, the company may not collect, test, process or store any new cord blood and human tissues, or provide new types of tests for clients in Singapore.


As fewer new samples were processed and stored, Cordlife’s second-half gross profit in 2023 decreased 6.5 per cent to $18.3 million, with the gross profit margin dropping 1.4 percentage points to 66.4 per cent.
In addition, its Singapore business continued to incur fixed running costs despite the suspension, which further eroded the gross profit and gross profit margin.
For the full year, net profit declined 24 per cent to $3.7 million from $4.9 million a year earlier.

Since end-December 2023, the company had been sending donated cord blood samples from tanks under investigation to a third-party laboratory for testing in batches. The results are estimated to be ready in end-March 2024.
“There is no certainty on the outcome of the ongoing investigations. This, along with the fixed costs being incurred during the suspension, is expected to continue to have a negative financial impact in Singapore, which had in past years been the largest contributor to the revenue of the group,” said the company.
Cordlife said it is currently unable to assess the exact financial impact of the temperature lapses and the investigations on its 2024 financial year. But if the results confirm that the affected tanks are adversely affected by temperature lapses, this may have a further adverse impact on financial year 2024, the company said.
“The group would like to emphasise that the suspension and ongoing investigations are isolated to the group’s operations in Singapore and do not impact the operations of the subsidiaries located outside Singapore,” said the company.
Its new CEO, Mr Yiu, said that he wants to convey his sincere apologies to Cordlife’s clients for the distress the incident has caused.
Cordlife was on a post-pandemic recovery path when major lapses in its operations were identified and ever since, the entire team has been working tirelessly to address and rectify the issues at hand, he said.
“We strongly believe that we owe this to the families that placed their trust in us and will continue to do our utmost to make it right. With Singapore being one of our largest revenue contributors, we expect a challenging year ahead as there continues to be uncertainty in terms of the outcome of the investigations and the lifting of the suspension,” Mr Yiu said.
On the same day of its results announcement, Cordlife revealed that it has set up a subsidiary in Vietnam through its wholly owned subsidiary, CS Cell Technologies.
Called CL Biotech, the new unit will provide management consulting services, as well as medical and pharmaceutical research and development services.
Cordlife also responded separately to an opinion piece published by The Business Times on Feb 27 that raised issues on the appointment of 34-year-old Mr Yiu as group CEO, citing familial connections and lack of healthcare experience.
The company said its nominating committee had found that Mr Yiu had taken the initiative to understand the issues facing Cordlife and was prepared to join the company on short notice.
“Given the ongoing negative publicity on the company, the nominating committee had assessed that it may be difficult to find a more experienced candidate to assume the role of group CEO,” it added.
The company said that Mr Yiu’s brother, Mr Yiu Ming Yiu, who has been a non-independent and non-executive director of Cordlife since December 2021, had abstained from the board’s decision on the CEO appointment.
Two other non-independent and non-executive directors, Ms Chen Xiaoling and Mr Zhai Lingyun, who had raised reservations over Mr Yiu’s appointment, had also abstained.
Shares of Cordlife closed at 26.5 cents on March 1, down 2.5 cents or 8.6 per cent.

 

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Mr Larsen said that he was stepping down as CEO to focus on his family. “Over the past seven years, I have lived away from my wife and children for six of them. I have made the decision to now give my family the priority they deserve,” he said.

But, but, didn't his family took priority when times were good and before the company began retrenching people?

CEO of Singapore’s CIX carbon credit exchange resigns​

Mr Mikkel Larsen will remain in his role until a new or interim CEO is appointed. PHOTO: CLIMATE IMPACT X

David Fogarty
Climate Change Editor

MAR 21, 2024

SINGAPORE – Mr Mikkel Larsen, chief executive officer of Singapore’s Climate Impact X (CIX), a carbon credit exchange and marketplace, has announced his resignation, CIX said in a statement on March 21.
Mr Larsen, 49, will remain in his role until a new or interim CEO is appointed.
He will continue to serve as a member of CIX’s board, the company said. A company spokeswoman confirmed the news to The Straits Times.
Mr Larsen said that he was stepping down as CEO to focus on his family. “Over the past seven years, I have lived away from my wife and children for six of them. I have made the decision to now give my family the priority they deserve,” he said.
“It has been a very difficult decision to leave a company that I had the good fortune of helping to build, and that I have so much conviction in.”
Mr Larsen has been with CIX since it was launched at the end of 2021. CIX is a joint venture funded by DBS, Standard Chartered, the Singapore Exchange and GenZero, a decarbonisation-focused investment platform founded by state investor Temasek.
CIX, which has an office in London, has grown to become a global marketplace, auction house and exchange for carbon credits. It focuses on high-quality carbon credits – those that come from projects that are fully verified and use the highest standards to benefit the climate, local communities and nature.


Each credit represents a tonne of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) and they are generated from projects that either remove CO2 from the air or prevent it from being emitted in the first place, such as saving a rainforest from being chopped down.
Buyers use carbon credits to meet their climate change targets, such as the goal to cut planet-warming emissions to net zero by the middle of the century, by buying credits from carbon projects around the world and counting the emissions savings from those projects as their own.
However the global trade in carbon credits has suffered from deep concerns over their quality and integrity and a lack of transparency. While exchanges, investors, regulators and standards bodies have tried to address the concerns, global trading in carbon credits has failed to grow as fast as many had hoped.
In 2023, CIX laid off a small number of staff as part of a restructuring, but it did not say who or how many at the time.
The CIX spokeswoman said Mr Larsen’s departure was unrelated to the restructuring exercise.
“Apart from natural attrition, we expect a stabilisation in our headcount going forward as we continue to retain a strong positive outlook on the long-term viability of carbon markets,” she said.
“The restructuring exercise undertaken was aimed at optimising our operations and better positioning CIX to meet the evolving needs of the market we serve.”

 

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Rear-admiral and Chief of Naval Staff of Republic of Singapore Navy cannot make it in the private sector.
He said he is not moving to another job, but will be taking time off to spend more time with family.

ComfortDelGro’s taxi, private-hire chief Jackson Chia quits​

Mr Jackson Chia said he is not moving to another job, but will be taking time off to spend more time with family. PHOTO: COMFORTDELGRO

Christopher Tan
Senior Transport Correspondent

Jun 25, 2024

SINGAPORE – The chief executive of ComfortDelGro Corp’s newly formed Private Mobility Group (PMG), Mr Jackson Chia, has tendered his resignation.
PMG covers the transport giant’s taxi, private-hire vehicle, car rental and leasing as well as lifestyle businesses. It was formed in June 2021, with Mr Chia as its head.
Mr Chia, who turns 55 in 2024, was previously ComfortDelGro’s group chief sustainability officer.
He joined the Singapore-listed transport group in 2017 after a 28-year career in the Singapore Armed Forces, where he held the rank of rear-admiral and was chief of naval staff of the Republic of Singapore Navy.
When contacted, ComfortDelGro group chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said an announcement will be made on Mr Chia’s successor shortly.
Mr Chia told The Straits Times that “after seven years, it was time to move on”.
He said he is not moving to another job, but will be taking time off to spend more time with family. “There are things which money cannot buy, like time and health,” he said, adding that he is serving notice till September.


Mr Chia is also a director of Vicom, a vehicle inspection subsidiary of ComfortDelGro.
Other recent resignations include Mr Stephen Chow, head of ComfortDelGro’s Zig app business. Mr Clement Chua, who headed the group’s insurance brokerage business, has also quit.
ComfortDelGro’s share price ended one cent lower to $1.35 on June 25 – less than half its value just five years ago.
The company has been facing profit erosion since ride-hailing companies such as Grab, Gojek and Ryde entered the Singapore market a decade ago.
The group reported a net profit of $40.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 – a 23.8 per cent increase over the same period in 2023. Revenue rose 10.8 per cent to $1 billion, from $906.4 million over the same period in 2023

 

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When times are good, no one resign for health reasons or to spend more time with the family. But when shit hits the fan, everyone cites health and family as reasons for resignation.

Quote: "When contacted by The Straits Times, Mr Chua cited personal health reasons for his departure from Mediacorp.

“Due to personal health reasons, I have decided to step away from work temporarily to focus on my recovery. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is necessary,” he said."

Mediacorp head and chief editor of Chinese news and current affairs steps down​

Chinese news veteran Chua Chim Kang cited personal health reasons for his departure from Mediacorp.PHOTO: MEDIACORP
Chin Soo Fang
Feb 12, 2025

SINGAPORE – Chinese news veteran Chua Chim Kang has left Mediacorp, the broadcaster announced on Feb 12.

In his place, the media conglomerate has appointed Ms Wee Wai Lin as the head and chief editor of its Chinese news and current affairs units.

When contacted by The Straits Times, Mr Chua cited personal health reasons for his departure from Mediacorp.

“Due to personal health reasons, I have decided to step away from work temporarily to focus on my recovery. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is necessary,” he said.

“My time at Mediacorp has been both fulfilling and invaluable,” he added. “I am truly honoured to have worked alongside a professional and dedicated team, collaborating on many meaningful projects.”

Ms Wee was formerly the chief editor of Mediacorp’s Chinese current affairs unit and has been with the media conglomerate for more than 35 years.

She told ST: “The Chinese news and current affairs team will further strengthen and expand digital content on an already solid foundation, providing audiences with a wider range of choices while making greater contributions to the promotion of the Chinese language and local Chinese culture.”

Ms Wee Wai Lin has been appointed as head and chief editor of Mediacorp’s Chinese news and current affairs units.PHOTO: MEDIACORP
Mr Chua is embroiled in an ongoing court case. He and former media professional Lee Kuan Fung are being sued by a businessman seeking repayment of a $990,000 interest-free loan given to them in 2017.

Businessman Ren Xin Wu, a Canadian national originally from China, said the sum was for a company called Homing Holdings, which was set up to promote the use of Mandarin in Singapore.

In his suit, Mr Ren accused Ms Lee of mismanaging Homing and alleged that Mr Chua and Ms Lee breached an agreement to repay the loan.

Mr Chua joined Mediacorp in 2018. Before that, he was with the former Singapore Press Holdings for 18 years and last served as chief editor of the now-defunct evening daily Lianhe Wanbao.

Mr Chua told ST that he is deeply grateful for the opportunities Mediacorp has given him and his colleagues’ support.

“Moving forward, I will remain open to new opportunities and challenges,” he said.

When contacted, Mediacorp said it has no further comments.