Scott Edmonds, president and CEO of Webtech Wireless Inc. (TSX:WEW), resigned abruptly on October 1, the company announced a day later on October 2.
Edmonds joined the fleet management software company in 2007 and was appointed CEO in 2010.
Andrew Gutman, chairman of the board, has taken over as interim CEO.
“On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Mr. Edmonds for his service to the Company over the past seven and a half years, first as CFO and then CEO,” said Gutman.
“Scott has demonstrated exemplary professionalism in dealing with the many and varied challenges that have arisen at the Company during this period, and leaves Webtech in a much better financial condition than when he arrived.”
This year has been difficult for Webtech as the company was rocked by internal scandal. A forensic review, which led to an internal investigation, found that a former employee at the company’s U.K. location had allegedly been diverting funds into a fraudulent bank account between 2009 and 2012. The employee allegedly falsified reports to the U.K. tax authorities. The fraud resulted in a liability that CFO Trevor Greene said is in the $800,000 range.
Webtech said these discrepencies were not discovered until the firm was winding down its U.K. operations in 2012.
In an August 2014 conference call, Edmonds told investors the company was taken completely off guard by this discovery.
“At no time did the tax authority audit us or otherwise point out any shortfalls in our remittances, thus there was no warning bell from the other side,” he said in the call.
Webtech has not been available for media requests. As of press time, shares of the company were trading at $1.72 – unchanged from the previous day.
- With files from Tyler Orton
@EmmaHampelBIV
