Panel SA: Sergio Moro will propose a study to Pacheco on a tougher law against cases like Americanas

The graduated senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) says that he will suggest to the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), that a study group be created to toughen the legislation in order to avoid new cases such as the accounting scandal of R$ 20 billion from Americanas.

In the opinion of the former judge, it will be necessary to discuss legal ways to make the Brazilian business environment healthy and increase predictability for shareholders and investors.

Moro says he sees the use of accounting tricks both in the situation of the retailer and in the companies involved in Lava Jato.

“These are different situations. In Lava Jato, some companies defrauded the accounting, creating fictitious expenses to cover payments in kind of bribes. In Americanas, this is not the case. But, in common, there are accounting tricks”, he says.

According to Moro, the idea is to discuss the issue in a bill following examples from US legislation, with shielding against major crises in the financial market and rewarding informants of illegal conduct in companies.

“The purpose is to protect investors and shareholders, especially minority shareholders, creating a healthier environment for investments and, consequently, for economic growth through the private sector”, says Moro.

In addition to strengthening the CVM (Securities and Exchange Commission), the proposal is to make investigations within companies mandatory, with fact-finding protocols and progress reports to the authorities. According to Moro, this would be a way of circumventing the lack of state resources and would avoid harming external investigations.

“Internal investigation does not mean that it would be done by the company itself and its employees. The protocols would require the hiring of a third specialized company and that could not be the same auditing company”, says Moro.

Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix