BERLIN, GERMANY / CHANTHABURI, THAILAND - EQS Newswire - 13 September 2019- The problems of the Berlin jewelry retailer elumeo SE (the owner ofJuwelo TV), which has been caught in the negative headlines, are on theincrease: an action for annulment and rescission could render null and void theresolutions passed at the Shareholder Meeting on August 7^th, 2019.What's more, shareholders feel that the management under Wolfgang Boyé has toldfalsehoods to them, especially about the jewelry manufacturer PWK in Thailand,which has run into financial difficulties. In the complaint, they refute theclaim that PWK had sufficient funds to pay the salaries and severance paymentsof over 600 Thai employees. The public prosecutor's office in Berlin, thepolice and authorities in Thailand are investigating the chairman of the boardof directors of elumeo SE, Wolfgang Boyé and the managing directors ThomasJarmuske and Bernd Fischer for fraud.

Workers of thejewelry manufacturer PWK Jewelry Company Limited and representatives of theMinistry of Labour met the governor of the Thai province Chanthaburi. More than600 PWK workers became unemployed after the German jewelry retailer elumeo SEordere.

The action for annulment and rescission filed by anchor shareholder OttomanStrategy Holdings (Suisse) S.A. against elumeo SE, which also distributes itsjewelry via the TV channel "Juwelo TV", addresses the"'destruction" of the group's own production facility in Thailand.Through its subsidiary "Silverline" in Hong Kong, elumeo SE hadordered jewelry worth over EUR 30 million from the other subsidiary PWK JewelryCompany Ltd in Thailand. Elumeo paid only a small fraction of the amount, whichultimately 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 nostatutory severance payments. The elumeo management had discussed in advanceabout ways of getting rid of Thai employees without having to pay statutoryseverance pay.

The shareholder's accusation: "The defendant (elumeo SE) is in economicdifficulties due to years of mismanagement by the Chairman of the Board ofDirectors and the Executive Directors. According to the plaintiff, the membersof the Board of Directors - first and foremost the Chairman of the Board ofDirectors and the Managing Directors he manages - are concentrating on securingtheir own positions, rather than on the asset interests of the entire elumeoGroup and its shareholders. This culminates in unlawful acts by the members ofthe Board of Directors against the group companies Silverline DistributionLtd., Hong Kong, PWK Jewelry Company Ltd., Bangkok, as well as the directorsand other guarantors working there, which deliberately and intentionallyrepresent an intervention threatening the existence of the group companies andwho have crossed the threshold of criminal liability in accordance with theprinciples of the decision of the Federal Court of Justice of 13 May 2004, ref.no.: 5 StR 73/03.".

The Berlin public prosecutor's office, which is investigating Wolfgang Boyéand the managing directors Thomas Jarmuske and Bernd Fischer for fraud (filenumber 242 Js 540/19), seems to agree with this, as do the police authoritiesin Thailand (file number 0050/2562).

As the business newspaper "Handelsblatt" reported, the"destruction" of the Thai jewellery manufacturer PWK had partlydrastic consequences for the employees and their families. An employee, a youngwoman - mother of a child - fell ill and was unable to finance the necessarymedical treatment. The mother died. Friends and relatives had to collect moneyfor a burial according to Buddhist rites. Outraged PWK employees protestedbefore the German Embassy in Bangkok against the German company elumeo SE andits managers. Wolfgang Boyé, Chairman of the Board of Directors, told the"Handelsblatt" that he felt that the emotional protest was puttinghim under undue pressure."

Again and again, the Thais, who were put in financial distress by theirparent company, called on elumeo SE to return at least a part of the jewelleryworth more than 30 million euros to Germany so that salaries, severancepayments and creditors could be paid. But the German managers refused. Thecomplaint states: "Nevertheless, they do not shy away from deliberately"jumping over the blade" their group company and their employees.

elumeo SE is currently having to defend itself against a multi-millionlawsuit filed by PWK, via its assignee SWM Treuhand AG. In addition, suppliersof the elumeo subsidiary PWK have also sued the company because they were notpaid, including such large diamond suppliers as Flawless. Other suppliers suchas Bright Future and G4S were also not paid.

The lawyers of the shareholder OSH accuse the Chairman of the Board ofDirectors Wolfgang Boyé of "deliberately and ruthlessly" violatingthe requirements of responsible and transparent corporate governance and thevalues, principles and rules of responsible corporate management.

In spite of all this, Frankfurt Performance Management and other minorshareholders of elumeo SE, refused OSH's request for appointment of a specialauditor with the mandate to audit and clarify the actions of Wolfgang Boyé andits Managers Thomas Jarmuske and Bernd Fischer. This is surprising andtroubling for anyone who has the desire to understand what hides behind allthis potentially criminal activity and makes one wonder what the real andultimate reasons of shareholders are refusing an audit over the management of acriminally investigated Chairman.

This fact has now attracted the attention of the Norwegian pension fund, thelargest sovereign wealth fund in the world, which prides itself on investingonly in ethically correct companies. The Norwegian pension fund bought sharesin elumeo SE through its German licensee, FPM (Frankfurt Performance Manager).

Not only did the Norwegians have to learn that the management of elumeo SEhad sent the company into a rapid downturn through mismanagement, but they alsodisregarded the fundamental rights of dependent Thai employees for low motives.The ethically correct Norwegians, who are already informed about the elumeo SEcase, had earlier dissolved their investments with the US trading giantWalMart. There, too, the rights of the employees were disregarded.