YuuZoo 'forced' to cease SG ops, says it was unable to pay salaries after police raid

Social media company YuuZoo Corporation has ceased its operations in Singapore. According to a statement on SGX, the company was "forced" to close all of its Singapore-based subsidiaries and terminate the employment agreements of all of its Singapore-based employees.The Company says the decision is a "direct consequence" of what happened soon one year ago. Starting in early 2018, SGX first decided to suspend the trading in YuuZoo. The company was then investigated by Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for possible breaches of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289.CAD raided its office and seized documents for the financial years 2013 to 2016. Around the same time Singapore’s tax authority IRAS was said to have seized all cash funds that were held in the Singapore bank account of YuuZoo Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of YNG Corporation, according to the statement. This was later returned in a cheque issued to YuuZoo Corporation. However, the Singapore bank where the account was held had however decided to close YuuZoo’s account, and refused to open a new account for the company, said the statement on SGX.Therefore, the company was unable to pay local salaries, including that of its Singaporean CEO Mohandas, who resigned early this month.A spokesperson for parent company, YNG Corporation said that the seizure of all funds and the refusal by IRAS to return the money as well as the SGX-imposed share suspension and the SGX-requested CAD investigation has led to the discontinuation of the operations in Singapore. "All of this has had a deeply negative impact on YNG’s business operations. It has resulted in all Singapore-based banks that the company has contacted refusing to open a bank account for the company and has made it impossible for the Company to raise new funds," the spokesperson added.YuuZoo will however continue its operations from other offices around the world in markets such as China, Thailand, India, France and Nigeria. The company has also written to SGX requesting a lifting of the share trading suspension to allow it to raise new funds that already have been committed, and to allow the shareholders of YNG Corporation to make their own decisions on whether to sell, hold or buy shares in the company.(Photo courtesy: 123rf)