ACRA investigating possible Companies Act breaches at SingPost

THE local corporate watchdog is investigating possible breaches of the law at Singapore Post (SingPost).

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) told SingPost on May 18 to give ACRA the joint special audit report on its corporate governance dated May 3, SingPost said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday morning.

This was "as it (ACRA) is commencing investigations into possible breaches of the Companies Act as highlighted in the report", SingPost said.

SingPost had released only a summary of the report to the public.

The joint special auditors, Drew & Napier and PricewaterhouseCoopers, had found in the summary report that former SingPost director Keith Tay was "arguably in breach of section 156(1) of the Companies Act" for not declaring his interest in the 2013 acquisition of Famous Holdings "as soon as practicable".

They also found that he had breached some fiduciary duties relating to the Famous Holdings deal and SingPost's acquisition of Famous Pacific Shipping (NZ) in 2015. Breaches of fiduciary duties come under the Companies Act.