Panel SA: Americanas investors prepare new request to the Public Ministry

The representation of Abradin (Brazilian Association of Investors) at the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding the Americanas accounting scandal will be filed next week, according to Aurélio Valporto, president of the entity. “We are going to ask for an investigation with action by the Federal Police”, says Valporto.

The association had already filed a complaint with the CVM (Securities and Exchange Commission), shortly after the revelation of the case, to ask for an investigation of responsibilities.

Valporto says he finds it very unlikely that the trio of billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, reference shareholders, did not know that a problem of around R$ 20 billion was happening within the company. They deny having prior knowledge of accounting maneuvers or dissimulations.

“It is a long-standing practice. It is not credible that they were unaware. There is no middle ground. If there was a crime, they will have to put the money back”, he says.

According to Valporto, Abradin received more than a thousand emails from small shareholders affected by the Americanas case.

“We want more data. No one really knows even the extent of the fraud. I don’t know how it was committed. We know that there was a very flawed audit and now it needs another audit, a serious one, to say what happened”, he says.

Last week, the CVM announced that it is making use of the agreements and cooperation it has with the Federal Police and the Federal Public Ministry to investigate the situation.

The billionaires and the board of Americanas are being investigated by the CVM for omitting relevant information in the first statement about the accounting scandal that led the company to file for bankruptcy.

Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Diego Felix