CAD report filed by Kitchen Culture on payroll irregularities

Kitchen Culture, the supplier of kitchenware, recently lodged a CAD report due to suspected payroll irregularities and fraud, worth $520,000 with regard to two former employees. The two suspects worked at Kitchen Culture's wholly-owned subsidiary, KHL Marketing Asia-Pacific. To aid the ongoing investigation, Kitchen Culture has extended all its support and provided CAD with relevant data and information related to the case.

The recent filing of the CAD report follows the dismissal of Lim Wee Li from the post of CEO, Kitchen Culture. According to an interim report by Baker Tilly Consultancy, potential breaches and grave misconduct were recorded by a few employees including Lim. Baker Tilly is leading the investigation into these allegations of fraud and also is in charge of the internal audit at KC Holdings. It is observed that Lim's grave misconduct exposed Kitchen Culture to unwanted risks and consequences. Kitchen Culture further reported Lim’s antics had caused the company to breach certain Catalist rules. SGX further issued a notice of compliance to Baker Tilly to enhance its reviewing process and internal audits.

It has been reported that using the company's name, Lim was involved in illicit undocumented activities. He loaned out $2mn to a third party and vehicle purchase worth $1.1mn without board approval; and undocumented loan repayments to private lenders worth $200,000, $250,000, and $304,771. 

Yap Sze Hon, Independent Director and a member of the nominating committee at Kitchen Culture shared his dissent over the boards' abrupt decision to terminate Lim's term of employment. Kitchen Culture’s stake at Ooway Technology did not work out last September due to the aftermath of Mr. Lim’s dismissal. His dismissal took place three days after the failure of the deal with Ooway. Speaking about the unruly dismissal of Lim, Yap revealed that he was neither given a chance to reply to the interim report nor a disciplinary hearing was conducted.