ASA Resources says $4.3 million is missing from its Freda Rebecca Mine, with an audit showing that chief executive Yat Hoi Ning and finance director Yim Kwan had irregularly transferred money to two Hong Kong registered companies.
The two officials have since been removed, the company said in a filing on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), where the firm is listed.
The miner said it had replaced the two with chief operating officer Toi Muganyi and Carla Mackay, who take over as CEO and finance director, respectively, in the interim. Batirai Manhando, the Bindura Nickel Corporation managing director, was named as an interim executive director.
The resource group said of the missing money, $1.6 million had been traced to two of the group’s companies in Hong Kong but could not ascertain if the money remained in its accounts.
“The Board is satisfied that it has established that the total amount of Asa Resource funds that are unaccounted for is $4.3 million. Of this amount $2.7 million relates to the year ended 31st March 2016 and $1.6m relates to the year ended 31st March 2017,” the company said in the regulatory filing.
“The sum of $1.6 million in 2017 has been traced to two Group companies administered from Hong Kong but the Board has yet to confirm whether any part of this sum remains within the two companies. The Board has not relied on these amounts and any recoveries will improve the expected cash position.”
Asa assured shareholders that it still has adequate funding for the normal working capital requirements at Freda Rebecca — where it holds a controlling 85 percent stake — as well as its Bindura Nickel Corporation subsidiary.
Asa’s share price on AIM market dropped 45.78 percent to 1.129 pence yesterday but recovered to 1.28 pence in today’s early trades.
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