(Reuters) – Singapore’s City Developments suspended trading on Wednesday after the real estate firm’s executive chairman accused his son, the company’s CEO, of plotting a boardroom coup.
Kwek Leng Beng, 84, said in a statement that he intends to remove his son, Sherman Kwek, from his position after having tried to do so earlier in February and that he has filed court papers to address the situation.
City Developments did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Sherman Kwek was not immediately available for comment.
Leng Beng accused his son, board members Philip Lee and Wong Ai Ai, and a group of directors who acted with them of consolidating control of the company’s board.
They bypassed the firm’s nomination committee on a couple of occasions to change the board composition, Leng Beng said, and “hastily” followed up by making significant changes to committees and governance.
“As a father, firing my son was certainly not an easy decision. I accept that business decisions are difficult and young people may make business mistakes in their careers and that is understandable, but circumventing corporate governance laws is a red line,” Leng Beng said.
The company suspended trading before the market opened, citing a pending announcement, and unexpectedly cancelled its scheduled post-results briefing.
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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