THE former chief executive of suspended YuuZoo Corporation, James Matthew Somasundram, was charged on Wednesday (Feb 21) over alleged misleading financial reports released by the company.

Meanwhile, Thomas Zilliacus, who was chief executive and chairman of YuuZoo at the time of the alleged offences, is also facing a warrant of arrest. He also has an Interpol Red Notice issued against him.

Zilliacus – who made headlines last year after he put in a bid for Manchester United – is currently out of Singapore and has refused to return, according to a police statement on Wednesday.

An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

Apart from Zilliacus, warrants of arrest have been issued against three other individuals who were also allegedly involved in the matter, and are out of Singapore and have refused to return. They are then chief financial officer Michael Parker, as well as Anthony Williams and Ozi Amanat, who were independent directors at the time.

YuuZoo Corp, which is now known as YuuZoo Networks Group Corporation, is listed on the SGX mainboard and released quarterly financial reports under its listing obligations. Several of such reports released between 2015 and 2016 were allegedly misleading, as investigations found they overstated revenue by US$4.6 million to US$18.8 million.

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Somasundram faces four charges under the Securities and Futures Act for his role in the release of these reports by YuuZoo. The statement noted that Somasundram is alleged to have been negligent in connection with the financial reports released during the period from Q4 2015 to Q3 2016.

“If convicted, he may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years and/or a fine not exceeding S$250,000, for each charge,” the statement said.

Somasundram was appointed CEO of YuuZoo in October 2015, and stepped down in November 2016 for health reasons.

Trading in the shares of YuuZoo has been suspended since March 2018. The company said in April 2018 that it was under investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department for possible breaches of the Securities and Futures Act.