SINGAPORE — Cordlife’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Thet Hnin Yi, has been arrested amid ongoing investigations into the company’s mishandling of cord blood units.
The announcement came through a bourse filing on Wednesday (27 March), saying she was released on bail following an interview with the police’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
“The company understands from her that the offence for which she is arrested and released on bail, is likewise in connection with potential breaches of the disclosure obligations of the company in relation to the irregular temperatures of a certain cryogenic storage tank of the company, which was first disclosed by the company in its announcement dated 30 November 2023,” Cordlife said.
It was announced in November last year that seven of Cordlife’s storage tanks were exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits, damaging cord blood units belonging to at least 2,150 clients, with another 17,050 potentially affected.
Thet becomes the sixth person to be arrested in connection with Cordlife’s mishandling of cord blood units.
Last week, five people, including former Group CEO Tan Poh Lan, were arrested. At that time, Cordlife had said that Thet was only assisting with investigations, and had not been arrested.
Thet to continue as CFO for now, Cordlife to continue to reassess her suitability
Cordlife said on Wednesday that it would be in the company’s interest for Thet to continue as CFO due to her 17-year tenure with the company.
She is “very familiar” with its financial numbers and information and is currently working with external auditors to finalise accounts for the financial year that ended on 31 December 2023.
“Ms Thet is the key person liaising and managing responses to be sent to the regulators and works closely with the Company’s legal advisers in relation to announcements to be released by the Company, and with the Company Secretary in relation to corporate secretarial matters,” the company added.
She has also been “instrumental and proactive” in assisting the board with the ongoing work undertaken by the company to investigate and address the lapses identified by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in relation to its Singapore operations.
Cordlife added that it will continue to reassess the suitability of her appointment as CFO, pending the development of the investigations.
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