Staff of defunct river-taxi operator confront firm over missing pay

SINGAPORE — A dispute between Global Yellow Pages (GYP) and Leisure Empire over their now-defunct joint venture Singapore River Explorer has left some of their employees in a lurch over unpaid commissions and overtime pay.

Today (Jan 8), several of them showed up at a building in MacPherson looking for Leisure Empire director Nelson Goh to demand he sign their paycheques, a meeting that grew heated and ended with the police being called in to disperse the crowd.

TODAY reported yesterday that Singapore River Explorer, which provided river cruise and taxi services, had ceased operations as of January and the authorities were now looking for a new river taxi operator. According to former staff, they were to be paid all outstanding wages by yesterday, but the company failed to do so, leading to the standoff. About 75 employees were meant to receive commissions and overtime pay amounting to at least S$100,000.

At the meeting with Mr Goh, some 40 disgruntled former employees had gathered, loudly pressing him for their pay cheques. Several questioned his reasons for not signing the cheques, while those who were not Singaporean also wanted to know if they could be paid before they left the country.

Speaking to reporters after they were dispersed by the police today, Mr Goh said he was unwilling to sign the pay cheques, which require signatures from both companies, because the joint Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) bank account belonging to GYP and Leisure Empire was frozen last November.

Mr Goh said he was informed by the bank that about S$863,000 had been withdrawn from the joint account, without Leisure Empire’s knowledge. As money cannot be withdrawn without both two companies’ permission, OCBC froze the account while it investigated. Employees were paid their salaries in cash in December.

Mr Goh also said that he was uncertain how much funds remained in the account, as Leisure Empire no longer had access to bank records following a separate dispute with GYP last July. Leisure Empire has not been involved in day-to-day operations since then, he added.

GYP could not be reached for comment by press time. The Mainboard-listed company, together with Singapore River Explorer, was sued by Leisure Empire in July last year. Leisure Empire sought S$150,000 in damages for the termination of a service agreement and S$50,000 a month in damages. It also sought damages for loss of profits to be assessed. The case is still before the courts.

In December, GYP lodged a report with the Commercial Affairs Department over potentially irregular transactions in Singapore River Explorer, reported The Business Times.

GYP also said that Singapore River Explorer owes it S$5.9 million, plus S$0.4 million in interest, in a Singapore Exchange filing in the same month.