Alliance Select execs rapped for media leak

Alliance Select Foods International Inc. has lodged a criminal complaint against two Singaporean directors for allegedly “revealing secrets with abuse of office” to a newspaper columnist.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange last week, Alliance said it had to file the complaint with the Pasig City Office of the City Prosecutor to protect the company’s interests.

Alliance claimed Hedy Yap Chua and Albert Hong Hin Kay failed in their fiduciary duty to the company when they revealed information relating to the company’s financials given to them in confidence.

The complaint was filed by Alliance Select Foods as represented by its president and chief executive officer Jonathan Dee.

Based on a summary of the case, the company argued that last April, Yap-Chua and Hong “acting in conspiracy … revealed confidential information to (media).”

“The confidential information was made accessible to the board on 5 April and was made public only 10 days, after or on 15 April. However, on 10 April, the information was already published in an opinion column,” it reported.

Alliance said it had “reasonable basis” to believe that only Yap-Chua and Hong could have divulged the information to media, noting that this was in violation of Article 291 of the Revised Penal Code since the source of the information was not the other members of the board.