SPH Media files police report over inflation of circulation numbers after internal probe identifies potential offences
In filing the police report on Wednesday , the company was acting on one of the recommendations of a 13-page report by the company’s audit and risk committee commissioned afterMr Max Loh, who chairs the committee, reportedly said in an internal briefing to SPH reporters that the police report involved the findings of the probe, but had not been made against specific individuals or entities.
Details of the saga emerged in January this year when SPH Media Trust, which is part of SPH Media Group, said some staff had left the organisation and others had been"taken to task" over the matter. “The findings also concluded that the accounting impact is not deemed to be material to the financial statements of SPH Media Group for the financial year ended Aug 31, 2022 taken as a whole,” said SPH Media on Wednesday in a statement accompanying the report.It added that it will also act on the committee’s other recommendations on benchmark circulation reporting and further enhancing its risk management practices.
These 5,000 daily copies of the paper continued to be included in circulation figures even after the Y deal ended in February 2021.The report said the NIE fund was set up internally as early as 2000 to pay for distribution of newspaper samples to students, needy families, halfway houses and charities.
The report stated that the practice of printing and distributing copies to third parties “appears to be an acceptable practice” in the newspaper industry. However, copies cannot be counted if they are returned, unsold or undelivered. In response to TODAY's queries, an SPH spokesperson said the redactions had been made given SPH's confidentiality obligations and"for good order in respect of the identities of the concerned parties, specific details of the transactions as well as possible offences involved".Under the barter deal, company X provided e-paper digital subscriptions to SPH in exchange for 15,000 Straits Times and Business Times digital subscriptions.
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