Ex-CEO says Americanas protect trio of billionaires – 9/4/2023 – Market

The former CEO of Americanas Miguel Gutierrez claims that the company’s controllers –the trio of billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira– actively participated in the daily life of the retail company and that the performance was even stronger in the financial area, where a BRL 20 billion fraud revealed this year was carried out.

The statements were given through written testimony to the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) on Americanas. It is the first time that a former executive of the company publicly points to a possible participation of shareholders in the scandal.

Gutierrez states that shareholder participation took place through the presence of controllers or people linked to them on the board of directors or on the financial committee; the strong presence of members of these bodies in the company’s day-to-day activities, especially in the financial area; and through the billionaires’ holding company, LTS Investments.

According to him, members of the board of directors, the financial committee and the audit committee, in addition to LTS employees, even if they did not hold official positions in the company, spoke directly and frequently with the company’s financial director.

“All the strategic decisions in the group’s history, including in recent years, were taken by the controllers”, says Gutierrez.

“As in all your companies [do trio de bilionários], there was intense pressure for positive results, strict control of expenses (by means of commercial “tightening” over suppliers) and encouragement of the “fanaticism” of its executives and employees for their incessant work. I never knew, however, that this pressure would have led to acts of accounting manipulation”, says the former executive of the company.

Gutierrez claims that throughout all the years and in all positions, he has always reported to Sicupira, who he calls the company’s main shareholder. “Sicupira was involved with me in all relevant matters that came to my knowledge”, he says.

“I can safely say that absolutely everything I knew, the board of directors also knew – although it is certain that, due to the intense penetration of some board members in the company’s businesses and activities, the opposite is certainly not true”, says Gutierrez .

Gutierrez claims that at no point until his last day at the company did he hear anyone talk about “accounting inconsistencies” or “fraud” at the company and that he was not aware of anything related to it.

He says that as of 2018 his duties as CEO have been transformed to become a coordinator of the leaders of the different lines of business within Americanas. For this reason, he says, participation in technical and operational issues has been greatly reduced.

Gutierrez reports that, as of 2019, the shareholders initiated a succession process at the helm of the company that accentuated his distancing from administrative activities.

“I didn’t participate in defining accounting policies either, something that, under the terms of Americanas’ bylaws, was the responsibility of the board of directors,” he says.

Gutierrez says the company’s investigation after the fraud was revealed was null and void and resulted in false accusations against him.

“Initially, Americanas tried to include, as members of the independent committee, a subject who was part of the audit committee (!!!) and a subject from KPMG, who had audited the company’s accounts in the recent past”, he says, reporting that the names were changed after pressure from creditors.

Furthermore, he says, the independent committee had no part in the prosecution of him. “The fact demonstrates that Americanas’ intention was always to blame the old board (and me, mainly), to protect the board of directors and the controllers”, he says.

According to him, no one from the company contacted him to clarify any facts. “I was simply surprised, with the accusation made on that date, whose content I did not know and about which, I repeat, I had no possibility of defense”, he says.

Gutierrez says that the accusation was made based on a report produced by Americanas lawyers and that the company denied access to it on the grounds that it was company property. The former executive claims that the report that accused him was prepared by the same law firm that has represented the company’s controllers for decades.

“Therefore, the report’s subscribers do not have the necessary independence to carry out any analysis of responsibility for what happened at Americanas, since they would certainly be prevented from accusing their clients”, he says.

“The accusation against me made by Americanas, in addition to being false, is clearly biased, produced with the aim of misleading the market and the investigative authorities. I trust, therefore, that this CPI will not be deceived by this clear maneuver by Americanas to protect its controlling shareholders,” he says.

A report by the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) was presented by deputy Carlos Chiodini (MDB-SC) this week, stating that it was not possible to identify those responsible for the inconsistencies of R$ 20 billion in the company’s accounts.

The text written by the parliamentarian says that there was no way to determine “precisely, the authorship of the identified facts, nor to impute the respective criminal, civil or administrative responsibility to specific institutions or persons.”

What does the trio of billionaires say

In a note, LTS Investments says that Gutierrez’s words “do not bring any proof of his allegations nor refute evidence of his participation in the fraud”.

“The conclusions of a person who left the country after having had a request to participate in the CPI approved are not consistent with the facts exposed so far by the authorities, nor has any evidence presented by the company three months ago been questioned until the present moment”, says LTS.

According to the company, the reference shareholders have always acted with the utmost care and ethics towards the company, strictly observing the rules and applicable legislation. “Even so, all of Americanas’ shareholders were deceived by an astute fraud whose wrongdoers will be held accountable by the competent authorities”, says the text.

What does Americana say?

Americanas stated that it vehemently refutes the arguments presented by Gutierrez and reiterates that the former director of Americanas has never contested the documents and facts presented to the commission.

Americanas reiterated the report presented to the CPI, based on documents raised by the Independent Investigation Committee, in addition to complementary documents identified by Management and its legal advisors, which indicates that the company’s financial statements were being defrauded by the previous board of Americanas, which would be led by Gutierrez (according to the company).

“Americanas trusts in the competence of all the authorities involved in the investigations and investigations, reinforces that it is the one most interested in clarifying the facts and will hold all those involved legally responsible”, stated the company.