Irregular payments occurred during former group financial controller’s stint: Vin’s Holdings

[SINGAPORE] Automotive group Vin’s Holdings on Thursday (Apr 30) said that a series of irregular transactions occurred entirely during the tenure of its former group financial controller (GFC) Koit Ven Jee, also known as Jamie.

It was responding to queries issued by the Singapore Exchange on Apr 24, a day after the Catalist-listed company disclosed that it was investigating payments that had been made to an entity controlled by a former key executive officer.

In its Apr 23 bourse filing, Vin’s Holdings said about S$44,300 was found to have been paid to an entity following supposed services rendered to the group. Invoices were also issued to its subsidiaries Vin’s Credit and Vin’s Automotive Group.

Vin’s Holdings clarified on Thursday that four payments were made to that entity between Oct 13, 2025, and Mar 27, 2026.

The board said these transactions took place while Koit was GFC. He was employed from May 19, 2025, until Apr 15, 2026.

Following the successive departures of its GFC and chief financial officer Yat Wan Thiam within a year, the group said it has placed its finance team leader in charge of day-to-day operations.

This employee reports directly to chief executive officer Khong Keng Leng, it added.

To prevent further lapses, the company said it has implemented several internal controls for payments to vendors. These include requiring chairman or CEO approval for onboarding new vendors, as well as first-time payments to new vendors; inspecting transactions made by the finance team monthly; and reviewing the master vendor list.

Remediation timeline

Vin’s Holdings has also commissioned an internal auditor. The group intends to finalise the audit report and its management responses – inclusive of “specific remediation measures, implementation timelines and persons responsible assigned to each observation” – by May 15.

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The board said it is “committed to ensuring that all remediation measures, if any, are fully implemented” by Jun 1.

The search for a permanent GFC is also under way, with the company aiming to make an appointment within the next three to six months.

Shares of Vin’s Holdings ended Thursday down S$0.005 or 1.9 per cent lower at S$0.255, before the announcement.