Endeavour Announces Completion of Investigation and Key Findings - Seite 2

Background and Scope of Investigation
As announced on 4 January 2024, the Board had recently become aware of an irregular payment instruction issued in March 2021 for an amount of US$5.9 million owed to Endeavour in connection with the sale of the Agbaou mine. Mr de Montessus instructed Allied Gold, the purchaser of the Agbaou mine, to pay this amount to a third-party company rather than to a member of the Group, thereby settling the debt from the purchaser’s perspective. The payment was concealed from the Company by Mr de Montessus and he made repeated and deliberate false representations to management, the Board and the Company’s auditor that this amount remained owing from the purchaser. As a result, a receivable representing this amount was maintained on the Group’s balance sheet until Q3 2023, when it was written off based on further deliberate false representations by Mr de Montessus.

When challenged about these facts in an interview on 4 January 2024, Mr de Montessus admitted to issuing the irregular payment instruction, to concealing the fact of the payment to the third-party company, and to knowingly misrepresenting the receivable as outstanding over a period of more than two years. As a result of his serious misconduct, the Board terminated Mr de Montessus as CEO on 4 January 2024 and the Remuneration Committee of the Board determined to claw back remuneration totalling $29.1 million as announced on 18 January 2024.

The Board instructed its external advisers, Linklaters LLP and Ernst & Young LLP, to investigate the US$5.9 million payment to determine the beneficiaries of the diverted funds. The Investigation also uncovered evidence of two further payments, with a total value of US$15.0 million, to the same third-party recipient as the US$5.9 million payment. The scope of the Investigation also included the circumstances of these payments.

In order to provide additional comfort in relation to the opening balance sheet position for the 2023 calendar year, the Investigation also examined receivables written off by the Group on 31 December 2022 to ascertain whether any of them had in fact been settled by way of payment to a third party, in a similar manner to the US$5.9 million payment.

The external advisors conducting the Investigation were authorised by the Board to access all relevant documents, records and information of the Company and to conduct interviews with any individual deemed appropriate.

Prior to the conclusion of the investigation work, Mr de Montessus was interviewed for a second time in late February.

Overview of Investigation Findings