A senior executive is accused of manipulating tax invoices to inflate tax payments and pocketing the refunds
HOSPITALITY player CapitaLand Ascott Trust (Clas) will be fully compensated for the losses it suffered from an alleged white-collar crime in Australia, said its managers on Friday (Sep 20).
This came a day after news publications Australian Financial Review and The Edge reported that a senior executive in Clas Australia purportedly faked tax, insurance and legal documents, as well as misappropriated funds.
Clas’ managers noted that the incident will not have an impact on its distribution per stapled security and net tangible assets per stapled security for the financial year ending Dec 31.
According to Australian Financial Review, CapitaLand has accused senior executive Lee Yongho of manipulating tax invoices to inflate the company’s tax payments, allowing him to keep the refunds when they were issued by state revenue authorities.
Lee is also accused of diverting insurance payments to bank accounts he controlled and inflating invoices for legal services, with those payments reportedly going into his account as well.
Lee joined CapitaLand in 2018 and managed the accounts of Clas until he was dismissed last year for failing to submit the company’s tax documents, according to the report.
It also reported that CapitaLand detected the payments only in end-2023, when auditors flagged the suspicious transactions.
However, according to affidavits filed with the Federal Court, Lee could not be reached, and the police believe he has fled to South Korea.
Stapled securities of Clas were trading 1.5 per cent or S$0.015 lower at S$0.96 after the midday trading break on Friday.
