Asti to reevaluate internal processes following CEO payment controversy

This follows SGX’s 22 and 30 December queries. 

Asti Holdings Limited will be reevaluating its internal processes, following a payment error concerning its former CEO  Dato’ Loh Soon Gnee.

The Singapore Exchange questioned the payout of $1.29m for one month of annual wage supplement (AWS) to Dato’ Loh. This is despite his employment contract stating that he is qualified for two months of AWS.

"The error occurred because the Company’s Finance Department previously depended on the Human Resources (HR) department to provide accurate remuneration information of all the Key Management Personnel (KMP) to be disclosed in the Company’s annual report," Asti Holdings Limited said.

Moving forward, the company will put new procedures in place. These include HR personnel tabulating the compensation for KMP, with the CFO and Corporate Secretarial Executive (CSE) receiving these. From there, the CFO will review the reports against the KMP’s employment contracts, whilst the CSE will prepare declaration forms for these KMPs. After review by the KMPs, the corporate governance report will be updated to reflect this information, with the final report being passed to the board for approval and finalisation. 

The group also responded to earlier queries by SGX on 22 and 30 December 2021, with them saying that they were only made aware of the inconsistency after being told by Professor Mak Yuen Tuen. Reiterations by the group were also made towards the effectiveness of the internal controls and the approval of Dato Loh’s current employment contract.