Securities market authority encourages whistleblowers in Americanas case
The president of Brazil’s securities market authority CVM, João Pedro do Nascimento, said on Tuesday that there is evidence of "information manipulation" at Americanas, which, if confirmed, would constitute a crime against the capital market. He encouraged those involved in the scandal to denounce themselves or sign a plea bargain agreement. And he did not rule out that the retailer’s board of directors could be held responsible.The accounting fraud, acknowledged by the retailer last week amounts to R$25.3 billion. The debt reported in its court-supervised reorganization process is R$42.5 billion."It is not possible to say" that the board of directors is not responsible for the episode involving the retailer, Mr. Nascimento said. In his view, the fraud has been going on for many years, with many elements and characteristics. The statements were made based on the regulator’s investigation and information released by the company last week.According to Mr. Nascimento, the case is "deplorable and very serious." He added that "there is evidence of a complex and daring fraud scheme that involves many people to inflate and falsify the company’s accounting numbers."On Tuesday of last week, the retailer’s CEO Leonardo Coelho Pereira said that the frauds were perpetrated by the management team, with the participation of banks (he mentioned Itaú and Santander) and the audit firms (KPMG and PwC) hired by Americanas. The banks deny any responsibility for the fraud and the audit firms said they cannot comment on the case due to confidentiality clauses and professional rules. Mr. Coelho said during his testimony that the board of directors and the audit committee were not informed of the irregularities.In a notice of material fact released on June 13, Americanas cited seven former executives as participants in the fraud, including former CEO Miguel Gutierrez."In addition to the announced ‘accounting inconsistencies’, there was an admission of the company’s fraud practices last week. There are indications of manipulation of information. If these indications prove to be true, we will be facing a crime against the capital markets," Mr. Nascimento told the members of the investigative parliamentary committee (CPI). "Verifying the existence of fraud is the first step. Finding those responsible is the next. It will be up to the board of CVM, composed of...
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