Sidney-based UGL Ltd’s Ex-President has claimed that the real estate unit “misstated financial results to deceive the board of directors and investors.” Australian UGL is an engineering, construction and maintenance company whose operations include railway manufacture and maintenance along with design, construction, mining, commercial property, as well as defense and petrochemical industries. The company is valued at approximately $900 million USD.
The ex-president claims he was wrongfully fired after he complained about the company’s cooking of its books. According to Bloomberg, ex-president Shibuya reports that he was “retaliated against and terminated in part for complaining about, protesting and opposing defendants’ unlawful ‘cooking of the books.’
Shibuya was receiving a round base salary of $650,000 along with over a million dollars in incentives. He is seeking damages and compensation from UGL. The company completely denies the allegations of course and commented, “These claims of financial manipulation and discrimination are completely baseless.”
While in the United States, the Sarbanes-Oxley act puts CEOs and CFOs on the line for the responsibility of the validity of the financial statements; it is altogether rather interesting and unique to hear that a CEO is blowing the whistle on his former company. Of course, had ex-president Shibuya not been fired, it is interesting to note what might have been regarding the whistleblowing.
Image: mudmedia.com.au