WANdisco CEO, CFO quit as fraud probe confirms fake sales figures

3rd Apr 2023 07:40

(Sharecast News) - WANdisco's chief executive and finance head are stepping down immediately after an internal investigation into suspected fraud found more than $115m in missing bookings, the computing services company said on Monday.

David Richards, co-founder and CEO and Erik Miller, chief financial officer, have decided to step down after the firm said the probe confirmed that its published purchase orders and sales bookings for last year were false.

Revenue for 2022 should have been $9.7m rather than $24m, and bookings should have been $11.4m rather than $127m.

The company earlier this month asked for its shares to be suspended in London as it discovered a major fraud that could threaten it as a going concern as it ripped up guidance for 2022 and said an investigation was under way to identify its "true financial position" after sales booked by an employee appeared to have been inflated in what it described as "significant, sophisticated and potentially fraudulent irregularities."

WANdisco said the ongoing investigation supported the view that one employee was responsible, and Monday's resignations were not connected to its findings, but the plan to restore share trading was best pursued under new leadership.

Ken Lever, appointed interim chair last month, would run the company until a new chief executive was appointed, and also appointed Ijoma Maluza, previously CFO of Blue Prism, as interim CFO from April 1

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com