Innopac’s Crazy Leave Pay: The CEO’s 10‑Year Vacation
What Happened?
Innopac Holdings just handed its former chairman and CEO, Wong Chin Yong, a tidy S$491,920 for vacation time he never took. The payout covers snoozed holidays that piled up from 2008 to 2018. That’s almost half a million dollars of sleep‑over pay for a man who hardly had an escape from the boardroom.
Why the delay? According to the firm, Wong was the sole executive director, which meant he didn’t have the bandwidth to enjoy his annual leave. The company’s SGX filing explained that the “significant amount due to the CEO goes back to 2008 as he was unable to utilise all his leave entitlement.”
Timing and History
- Wong resigned last week, just one month after the SGX asked the company to explain how it had planned to sell a business at a steep discount to him.
- Innopac’s SGX documents reveal that his official step‑down date was slated for March 31, 2019.
- Other staff, like the group financial controller Priscilla Tan and a handful of employees from accountants to the admin desk, received their own unused leave payouts ranging from S$5,815 (Tan) to amounts paid out in 2017 for various roles.
The Numbers at a Glance
- CEO Wong’s unused leave: S$491,920
- Group financial controller Priscilla Tan: S$5,815
- Other staff (accountants, admin assistants, etc.): various amounts paid for unused leave in 2017
Why the Public Becomes Curious
When the SGX nudged Innopac to clarify how it’d priced a business for Mr. Wong, everyone’s ears perked up. The leave payout, that stacked over a decade, shouted: “We wasn’t just giving Mr. Wong a raise; we were paying him for every day he missed a holiday.” It’s a twist of internal policy, a dose of executive drama, and a reminder that even top brass can be locked into their desks for years.
Bottom Line
Innopac just settled a decade‑long vacation debt with its boss. The move smooths out a juicy story about executive leave and adds a dash of humor for arriving at the conclusion that, even CEOs, sometimes have to vacation—just a little later than expected.
