SINGAPORE - A former vice-president of operations and commercial at IEV Holdings has filed a wrongful dismissal claim against the company with Malaysia's Department of Industrial Relations, the oil and gas engineering solutions company said on Wednesday night (March 20).

Catalist-listed IEV, which is headquartered in Malaysia, said that former executive Justin Yong, 46, filed his claim on Jan 2. The company said that he had been served a notice of retrenchment on Dec 21, 2018, placed on immediate garden leave and given compensation in lieu of his three-month notice period five days later.

Company representatives and Mr Yong met for a reconciliation talk arranged by the Department of Industrial Relations on Jan 23, but the discussion did not result in a settlement and the matter has since been referred to the Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia, who has the discretion to decide whether or not to refer the matter to the Industrial Court.

IEV stated that there has been no formal legal claim from Mr Yong.

The company said that Mr Yong had led the development of the company's mobile natural gas sector (MNGS) since its inception in 2005, and was responsible for the operational, procurement, commercial and manufacturing activities. But IEV decided to exit the MNGS sector after the divestment of subsidiary PT IEV Gas. After Mr Yong, who was mainly in charge of managing PT IEV Gas and the MNGS business, completed the handover of PT IEV Gas to the new owner, IEV offered him a mutual separation offer which he declined, according to the company.

The company subsequently served the retrenchment notice.

The company said that the late lodgement of the notice of Mr Yong's retrenchment was due to an administrative oversight.

IEV added that its sponsor, SAC Capital, was not able to reach Mr Justin Yong to conduct an exit interview as at March 20 - the date of the announcement, and that the company has not been able to obtain his confirmation on the contents of the announcement.