Robo parking cop Smart Parking has today revealed it acted on whistle blower information in the sacking of two of its top UK execs for breaches of corporate policies.

Smart Parking (ASX:SPZ) makes smart phone technology that can direct drivers to empty car spaces — but also instantly identifies when a driver has overstayed a time limit, leading to huge jumps in parking fine revenue.

In a call with shareholder this morning, company chief Paul Gillespie described the events leading up to the termination of its UK chief and financial officer.

“The Board recently became aware that the CEO and CFO of the UK business were not operating in good faith and there was evidence they had breached a number of their employment conditions, including in relation to their entitlements and the amount of time they were spending in the business,” Mr Gillespie said.

“These issues reflected a lack of integrity that we were not prepared to tolerate.

“The issues were uncovered through the usual group management oversight processes, routine checks and interviews with UK team members.

“We also acted on a communication from a whistleblower.

Details of the conference call were made public in an ASX announcement today.

Mr Gillespie stressed he was “not aware of any criminal or illegal behaviour”.

“Given the lack of good faith from the UK leadership we will be thorough in our response to the issues that have come to light to ensure we address all possible implications,” he continued.

Shares in the company (ASX:SPZ) dropped as much as 55 per cent in trade yesterday, but rebounded after the call today to trade up 11 per cent to 29c – what still represents a 40 per cent drop from Thursday’s open price.

Smart Parking (SPZ) shares over the past week.
Smart Parking (SPZ) shares over the past week.

Mr Gillespie reassured shareholders the company’s operating model was still in tact – and that changes to its management reporting would ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“We will continue to enhance our internal reporting and management information systems. There was deliberate avoidance of our policies here and collusion to avoid identification but never the less we need stronger more robust systems and processes and we are already working on this.”

The process of recruiting new UK management is underway, with Mr Gillespie stepping in as UK Managing Director in the interim.

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