Troubled Pharmally International Holding Co (康友製藥) yesterday said that it plans to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting later this month to appoint new board members and replace chairman Tony Huang (黃文烈), who is suspected of embezzlement.
Huang disappeared on Aug. 6, the same day that three senior executives, including then-president and board member Zhang Yongjian (章永鑒), resigned.
“For our more than 11,000 retail shareholders who are angry at Huang, whose disappearance resulted in the suspension of Pharmally’s shares, we urge them to attend the meeting and replace Huang,” company spokesman Jason Chen (陳民郎) told a media briefing in Taipei.
Photo: Kao Shih-ching, Taipei Times
Chen, former chairman of Shing Fong Securities Investment Consulting Co (鑫豐證券投顧), said that major shareholders had asked him to help resolve the crisis.
“We are suspicious about Pharmally’s fraudulent financial statements over the past five years, as the firm has cash holdings of only NT$310,000 [US$10,682], whereas the financial reports indicated that it held NT$2.5 billion in cash as of the end of March,” Chen said.
According to Deloitte & Touche Taiwan’s (勤業眾信) audit reports, Pharmally and its Chinese unit Luan Worldbest Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (六安華源製藥) had bank deposits of NT$5.75 billion at the end of last year, but their accounts at Chinese banks, such as Huishang Bank Corp Ltd (徽商銀行), were found nearly empty when the firm checked with lenders in late August, Chen said.
“We are trying to retrieve records of transactions and fund movements of the Chinese unit over the past five years, so that the facts can come to light. We would also learn how much Huang and his partners have stolen from the company,” he said.
The company might be able to resubmit its financial statement for the second quarter to the regulator, as there was almost no revenue, but it was not practical to resubmit its financial statements for the past five years as suggested by some accounting firms, Chen said.
Pharmally plans to sue Deloitte & Touche Taiwan’s chairman, chief operating officer and chief risk officer over their two accountants’ alleged malpractice, Chen said.
The company also believes that the Taiwan Stock Exchange made mistakes when examining the firm’s financial reports in 2018, he said.
Deloitte & Touche Taiwan in a statement said that it has given the paperwork to the regulator and prosecutors, and rejected Pharmally’s accusations.
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