SINGAPORE - Cordlife’s board of directors on April 17 lodged a police report over potential wrongdoings, amid an internal probe.
Processes at the cord blood banking company have been in the spotlight after it was revealed on Nov 30, 2023, that cryopreserved cord blood units in seven of its 22 storage tanks were exposed to suboptimal storage temperatures. In one of the seven tanks, Tank A, 2,200 cord blood units were rendered unsuitable for stem cell transplants.
In a bourse filing on April 18, Cordlife said: “Based on the preliminary findings of internal investigations conducted by an external consultant engaged by the Committee of Inquiry, or COI, (which are still ongoing), and the information available, the COI is of the view that it has uncovered preliminary evidence of potential wrongdoings involving mostly former employees of the group in connection with the Tank A incident.”
The company added that it had convened the COI to understand how the incident happened and prevent future occurrences.
In the filing, the board said the police report was made without two directors – Mr Zhai Lingyun and Ms Chen Xiaoling. They are nominee directors of Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store, which has a 20.3 per cent stake in Cordlife.
Cordlife said it will offer its full cooperation to the relevant authorities for investigations in connection with the police report.
The Straits Times has contacted the police for more information.
As it stands, damage to 7,500 cord blood units from Tank A, another tank and a dry shipper has been confirmed.
The five remaining tanks, which store about 14,000 cord blood units, have been deemed by the health authorities to be at low-risk of being affected by temperature lapses, and further testing to generate more conclusive results is set to be ready in one year’s time.
This timeline has been contested by international cord blood banking experts, who said that it can be done in eight to 10 weeks, but Cordlife maintained that the one-year timeline is based on the current testing capacity of qualified labs here that have the expertise for this type of testing.
Group chief executive Ivan Yiu said that in the meantime, Cordlife shareholders and potential investors should exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the company.
“They should consult their stockbrokers, bank managers, solicitors, or other professional advisers if they have any doubt about the actions they should take,” he said in the filing.
He added that the company would update its shareholders and the investing public of material developments.
