Mary Chia admits disclosure lapses over CPF arrears at four subsidiaries after SGX queries

Mary Chia Holdings has admitted that it failed to disclose CPF arrears and court proceedings involving four of its five subsidiaries.

SINGAPORE – Cash-strapped beauty and wellness group Mary Chia Holdings has admitted that it failed to disclose CPF arrears and court proceedings involving four of its five subsidiaries, despite its chief executive being aware of the court notices earlier on.

The admission came in an Oct 9 response to queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), which questioned why the four subsidiaries and their involvement in court proceedings were not disclosed in the company’s Sept 11 announcement, and when the company first became aware of these matters.

Mary Chia’s Sept 11 announcement disclosed $50,208 in outstanding CPF contributions at one subsidiary but omitted arrears and court proceedings involving four others.

All five subsidiaries’ cases had already been heard together on Sept 10, and the CEO knew of their court notices.

The Catalist-listed company attributed this omission to shortcomings in its internal information consolidation and disclosure assessment processes, saying it failed to sufficiently consolidate information across its human resources, finance and management functions when preparing its Sept 11 announcement.

The group said its earlier disclosure assessment had focused primarily on Mary Chia Beauty & Slimming Specialist, whose CPF arrears and court appearance were the subject of SGX RegCo’s initial query.

It said it had not undertaken a comprehensive assessment of similar issues involving other group entities, resulting in the omission of four other subsidiaries from the announcement.

Mary Chia also revealed that the outstanding CPF contributions across the five subsidiaries had been revised to $103,727 as at Oct 9, down from approximately $153,000 stated during a court hearing a day earlier.

The revised figure was provided by the CPF Board following a reconciliation of outstanding contributions, taking into account payments made by the subsidiaries towards their arrears.

The latest filing also shed light on when the group’s management and independent directors became aware of the CPF issues.

Mary Chia said its CEO Ho Yow Ping and the group’s human resources manager were aware of the respective notices to attend court upon receiving them.