The police will not be taking any further action in relation to SPH Media’s alleged inflated circulation figures, after investigations found there was no basis for any criminal charges.
In a statement on April 29, the police said the investigation looked into the employees and directors of the media organisation, both former and current.
The offences that were being looked into included the falsification of accounts and cheating.
“The investigations showed that there was no basis for bringing any criminal charges. The police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, will be taking no further action,” said the statement.
The statement comes after the media company filed a police report on June 21, 2023, following recommendations made by the organisation’s audit and risk committee in its review of inflated circulation numbers.
The figures were discovered in an audit done between September 2020 and March 2022, with law firm Allen & Gledhill finding that SPH had inflated its daily circulation numbers by 82,600 using data from August 2021.
This accounted for about 10 per cent of reported daily average circulation.
Several senior staff were taken to task, with four leaving the company in January 2023 after the audit flagged issues.
In the light of the findings by the police, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said there will be no further actions on its end either.
The ministry added that SPH Media has implemented a new methodology to calculate circulation numbers since November 2023, with this new approach endorsed by an expert panel at the World Association of News Publishers.
MDDI said the media organisation has also improved its internal management of deal structure and pricing approval procedures, and has implemented measures to enhance data accuracy and compliance.
Separately, SPH Media said in a statement: “Within SPH Media, the case has been closed since end-2023 after all internal findings and gaps surfaced were addressed.
“We are glad to put this incident behind us and look forward to serving our audiences better.”
The Straits Times
