An employee of ValueMax Group is suspected of committing a criminal breach of trust after an internal review conducted by the company.

The matter has been reported to the police and investigations are ongoing, ValueMax Group said in an announcement on the Singapore Exchange yesterday morning.

When contacted, the listed pawnbroker and moneylender group would only reveal that the employee involved worked at one of its 23 pawnshops, but declined to say which outlet the employee was from.

Its spokesman also declined to comment if the employee has been suspended from his duties as the matter is now in the hands of the police, she told The Straits Times.

The police were informed last Saturday, the firm said.

ValueMax Group said in a statement yesterday: "To the best of the company's knowledge, this is an isolated case where none of the pledges at the outlet was affected."

It added that the amount involved is anticipated to be less than 0.3 per cent of the group's net tangible assets and was thus not expected to have a material impact on the financials of the group for the year ending Dec 31.

For the year ended Dec 31 last year, its net tangible assets amounted to $150.7 million. That means the sum involved is estimated to be less than $450,000.

The firm said it would monitor the progress of the police investigation and make further announcements when necessary.

ValueMax posted a net profit of $5.48 million on a turnover of $137.24 million, for the first six months of this year.