“Return our salary, taxes & EPF”: M’sians claim they’re owed RM12mil by ex-employer, Vettons

Vettons, an ecommerce company and platform, has come under fire recently for allegedly not paying its staff members their salary as well as EPF contributions.

According to The China Press and Sumberkini, former employees of Vettons protested the company at its headquarters in October, holding a banner that read: “Vettons Sdn Bhd Cyrus Chew Yem Seng return our salary, taxes, and EPF”.

Another banner claimed that the company owes the staff RM6 million in salaries and another RM6 in EPF contributions.

A former employee told Sumberkini that the company had not paid the staff’s salaries for eight months, and that it’s rumoured that no EPF payments have been made since April 2021, despite payslips from then stating that the deductions had been made by the company. The employee said that they have filed 30 police reports in light of that. 

Due to such issues, multiple reviews on Vetton’s Glassdoor page also allege that the business is a “scam”. 

Similar to what Sumberkini reported, these reviews from employees shared that EPF contributions were dedicated from their salaries, but Vettons did not actually pay it to the EPF. 

Some reviewers also claimed that Vettons has not been making “PCBs (Potongan Cukai Bulanan)”, which are a series of monthly tax deductions that go towards the payment of taxes in relation to one’s employment income. 

These deductions are retained by the employer and paid to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

This aligns with what was reported by the China Press, who quoted a former employee saying that they’re now being pursued by LHDN for taxation issues.

Claims that the company has habitually delayed paying salaries and not making the EPF contributions have been made since 2020, perhaps indicating that this might have been a norm for Vettons since it launched the ecommerce platform. 

On Google, it shows that Vettons has been permanently closed, and its website, vettons.com, can no longer be reached. Although the app is still available on the app store, it doesn’t seem to work anymore and instead only shows a loading screen.

Who is Vettons?

Vettons is a Malaysian technology solutions provider that launched its own ecommerce platform in 2020, inspired by the likes of Amazon and Alibaba. 

At the time of its launch, Vettons had carried out several marketing exercises, and worked with Vulcan Post too on sponsored content to share their USPs. This included offering same-day deliveries and only carrying genuine goods.

It had introduced an AI shopping assistant to its users as well as incorporated AR technology to help its customers visualise products on its platform. 

According to a feature by Malaysia Retailer, the company’s founding team consisted of Cyrus Chew, Dato’ Sri Ng Sing Huat, and Dato’ Sri Dr. How Kok Choong. 

Particularly notable is Dato’ Sri Dr. How Kok Choong, who was Co-Chairman at Vettons, a position which an insider source confirmed with us.

He’s also the CEO of TH3 Holdings Sdn Bhd, an IT solutions company, as well as AgapeATP, a wellness programmes provider that in the past filed for IPO on US capital markets.

Dato’ Sri Dr. How Kok Choong was also listed as a chairman on the Phoenix Plus Group, a Malaysian property company, as shown by hits on Google. However, upon clicking on the page, it seems like all mentions of his name have been removed.

With that said, we’re not sure what his or the others’ statuses are in Vettons in recent times. None of them have spoken up publicly on the allegations.

Why this might have happened

According to Vettons’ Crunchbase profile, it has received a total of US$5,682,500 in funding from its Pre-Seed and Series A rounds.

On the page, it also lists Vettons City as a subsidiary. On justia.com, an American website specialising in legal information retrieval, a contract can be found stating that Pheonix Plus Corp has bought 84,906 ordinary shares in the share capital of Vettons City Angels Sdn Bhd at a subscription price of RM11.66 per share.

The contract also wrote that the total subscription amount was RM990,003.96, which was to be paid in cash to the bank account of Vettons City Sdn Bhd.

However, bear in mind that these figures found online may not be accurate or factual. Vettons Sdn Bhd’s records on MyData SSM shows only includes 2019 and 2020 filings as well, so its financial performance in the past two years would not be easily ascertained.

Although, Phoenix Plus Corp’s website did announce in its news page that “The Phoenix Plus Group Is Working With Vettons For A Brighter Future”. 

If the allegations are true, possible explanations for why Vettons got to this point despite the large injection of funds might be that it had overspent on developing its AI and AR technology in 2020. 

Considering that it had just launched its ecommerce platform, it might not have been financially stable enough yet to have pushed for such advanced features. 

However, the co-chairman, Dato’ Sri Dr. How Kok Choong, had been quoted by Malaysia Retailer saying that Vettons was doing well in the beginning, having received an “overwhelming response” during the pandemic. This could be why the company was confident enough to be ambitious with its tech.

Yet, the company might not have been able to ride this high as pandemic restrictions eased up and in-person shopping was made possible again.

Furthermore, Vettons mostly focused on selling premium, big-ticket items, which could see a lower customer retention rate compared to daily essentials. 

As of now, there have been no public updates from the former Vettons employees on the status of their allegedly unpaid salaries. Vulcan Post has reached out to former employees as well as the CEO for further comment.

Featured Image Credit: Vettons, as of 2020