Five employees from Huon Aquaculture have been arrested and charged for allegedly taking part in activity resulting in the reduction of stock records with an estimated inventory value of $2.1 million.
In a statement to the ASX (18 January), Huon said it identified discrepancies at its Ingleburn processing plant over six months to December 2020.
The case was found under Huon’s existing compliance and risk management systems and processes, which revealed “the possibility of coordinated criminal conduct by employees at the plant”.
“Huon confirms, that whilst sales for the period 31 December 2020 were unaffected, the book value of inventory and gross margins will be $2.1 million lower than would otherwise be the case for that period,” it said.
“The company is exploring avenues to recover some or all of this amount.”
The employees involved have been terminated or stood down, pending the outcome of police investigations and police proceedings.
Huon said it will not be commenting further on the matter while ongoing investigations remain active.
Huon ranked in at #58 in Australia’s Top 100 Food and Drink Companies report 2020.
