Elumeo SE: Bad news for operators of “Juwelo TV” – Million-dollar lawsuits, allegations of fraud and investigations by prosecutors – Accusation of “annihilation” of PWK Jewelry Company Ltd.

BERLIN, GERMANY / CHANTHABURI,
THAILAND – EQS Newswire – 16 September 2019 -�The bad news
about the German jewelry retailer elumeo SE and its distribution channel Juwelo
TV do not stop. The events surrounding the group’s illiquid jewelry
manufacturer PWK Jewelry Trading Ltd in Thailand (Chanthaburi Province) have
been the subject of numerous trade talks in the run-up to the Hong Kong
Jewellery & Gem Fair, which starts next week. So has elumeo SE to deal with
another lawsuit that was brought before the court in Berlin. Shareholders are
convinced that the management under Wolfgang Boyé has not told the truth,
especially about the jewelry manufacturer PWK in Thailand, which is in deep
financial difficulties.

Former employees of the insolvent PWK Jewellery Company Ltd and representatives of the Thai Ministry of Labour met with the Governor of Chanthaburi Province to discuss the situation of the illiquid jewellery manufacturer. The employees had already demonst

 

The most recent lawsuit is a just another drop of a legal storm brewing over
elumeo SE and its management headed by Wolfgang Boyé, Thomas Jarmuske and Bernd
Fischer. All three managers are under investigation of the Berlin public
prosecutor’s office and the Thai police authorities, who are investigating them
for fraud. The SWM Trust Company sued elumeo on behalf of the financially
devastated PWK Jewelery Company Ltd. for 10.2 million Euros in unpaid jewelry.
In addition, suppliers of the elumeo SE subsidiary PWK also sued the company
because they were not paid, including such large diamond suppliers as Flawless,
which already, on July 10, filed case 301.013/Sor4014 with the Bangkok Courts
for unpaid gems.
Other suppliers such as Bright Future and G4S logistical company were also not
paid. The financial picture drawn by elumeo SE’s management at the Annual
Shareholder Meeting on August 7, 2019 in Berlin looks gloomy.

 

The management of elumeo SE under Chairman of the Board of Directors
Wolfgang Boyé had sent the group into an economic downturn. Elumeo SE, which
was initially successfully listed on the stock exchange, suffered a 24% decline
in sales revenues in 2018. Equity shrank by 80.9% and total losses amounted to
EUR 26 million according to the unaudited 2018 consolidated financial statements
published by elumeo. The shares of elumeo SE turned into penny stocks.

 

The target set by elumeo SE of selling millions of pieces of jewelry a year
via the Internet and its TV channel “Juwelo TV” was never achieved.
The production facility in Thailand was designed to produce 2 million pieces of
jewelry per year. However, the sales figures of the Boyé troupe remained far
below expectations, going as low as a quarter of the expected sales level.

 

The lawyers of anchor shareholder OSH speak of a targeted “destruction”
of the group’s own production facility in Thailand. Through its subsidiary
“Silverline” in Hong Kong, elumeo SE ordered jewelry worth over EUR
30 million from the other subsidiary PWK Jewelry Company Ltd in Thailand. Only
a fraction of the juwelry was paid. This ultimately led to the financial
collapse of PWK’s own subsidiary. As a result, over 600 Thai employees lost
their jobs, with no salary payments and no statutory severance payments. The
management of elumeo SE had already discussed in advance the possibilities of
getting rid of Thai employees without having to pay statutory severance
payments, an illegal move under the Thai law, and, most probably, an immoral
one too. PWK workers protested in Chanthaburi and in front of the German
embassy in Bangkok, seeking government’s help in obtaining their legal
severance pay.

 

The anchor shareholder OSH recently filed another lawsuit against
management’s refusal to appoint a special auditor who would check the legality
of Wolfgang Boyé and Executive Director’s actions as well as digging into the
company’s documents and resolutions to see how it was possible to come to this
incredibly bad situation, where the company is cornered with legal cases,
unpaid debts and its management criminally investigated in two countries.

 

Once advertising as a vertically integrated structure having its own
manufacturing facilities in Thailand, which was its strength and pride, elumeo
is resorting now in seeking merchandise and credit from various suppliers from
Thailand and India, trying, on the same time, to explain its shareholders that
this is the better and most feasible approach.