E-commerce firm YuuZoo Corp will appoint an independent third party to investigate claims and statements made about the company.

The move was described by YuuZoo in a pre-market exchange filing yesterday as an initiative "to put an end to further speculation and misleading public claims".

It came in response to six articles published in The Business Times between May 4 and July 11 and claims made in public and privately by its former financial controller.

YuuZoo said it believes the recent decline in its share price can be linked to the "inaccurate statements and claims" made in the articles. It added that many of the issues raised had already been addressed by its auditors for its 2016 financial results. They gave YuuZoo a clean audit.

"Despite this, the board has, at the suggestion of the company's executive chairman, decided on the following initiatives to put an end to further speculation and misleading public claims," it said.

YuuZoo noted the claims to be investigated include those filed by former YuuZoo employees against the firm's former financial controller, including two different police reports, one of which was filed for extortion.

The independent third party will also look into claims raised by the former financial controller in an e-mail sent to the Singapore Exchange after his services were terminated.

It will report its findings and recommendations to Mr Anthony Williams, the company's lead independent director and a law firm partner, for follow-up action.

YuuZoo also said that its executive chairman Thomas Zilliacus, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has said he will step down from his executive position for the duration of the independent review to ensure that there can be no claims of executive interference in the process.

YuuZoo shares closed down 1.4 per cent at 6.9 Singapore cents yesterday.