Thomas Zilliacus, a Finnish entrepreneur, is facing an arrest warrant issued by Singapore police. Now, Zilliacus has decided to share his side of the story.
The situation began to gain attention when Interpol issued a red notice for Zilliacus, following the arrest warrant issued by Singapore. The reason for this action can be traced back to a company called Yuuzoo, previously led by Zilliacus.
Yuuzoo, a social media and commerce platform company, was listed on the Singapore stock exchange in 2014 with a market value of around 300 million Singapore dollars. Zilliacus’ share value at that time was about one hundred million Singapore dollars.
The company’s goal was to become a global platform economy company like Tencent or Alibaba. They sought to expand by selling operating licenses to different Asian countries, similar to how McDonald’s sells franchise agreements.
However, the valuation of shares paid for these operating licenses became the center of Yuuzoo’s problems. An employee fired from Yuuzoo claimed that the revenue recognition of license income was incorrect and violated local securities market law.
Following these claims, the Singapore Stock Exchange suspended trading in Yuuzoo’s stock in 2018 and launched an investigation. Yuuzoo’s operations were suspended until the funding ran out in 2019.
According to Zilliacus, the issues started after the departure of Magnus Books, the CEO of the Singapore Stock Exchange who had strongly pushed for Yuuzoo’s listing. Further problems arose when a fired employee demanded $50,000, threatening to defame the company otherwise.
Yuuzoo hired Ernst & Young (now EY) to investigate the claims. However, Zilliacus claims that the report contained over 70 incorrect claims. Despite promises to correct these errors, Zilliacus states that EY never did so.
The Singapore Stock Exchange then referred the matter to the police after alleging that Yuuzoo had concealed documents from its investigators. The stock was also removed from trading on the stock exchange list.
Zilliacus responded by writing a letter to the Prime Minister of Singapore, but instead received an invitation to be interviewed by the police. Zilliacus’ bail was subsequently increased and he was allowed to travel.
The controversy surrounding Yuuzoo has been ongoing for over five years. The latest development came when Zilliacus’ wanted notice was made public. Zilliacus refutes claims that he gave misleading information about the company’s finances and has taken legal action in response.
Zilliacus and Yuuzoo have sued EY in three countries, accusing them of knowingly publishing misleading and false information. He believes that this action has caused damage both to him personally and to the company.
