Americanas informed this Tuesday (31), in a statement to the market, that, since the beginning of the accounting crisis it is going through, it has hired consultants and experts to preserve the company’s databases, with the aim of collaborating with investigations .
Digital information, according to the statement, is being stored and recorded.
The new statement was made public by the retailer after, last week, the Court authorized the carrying out of search and seizure operations on the emails of company executives.
“Americanas SA hereby informs its shareholders and the market in general (…) that, since the Material Fact published on January 11, 2023, several measures have been implemented with the objective of
ensure the strictest preservation of company information and documents, all with the aim of fully contributing to the ongoing investigations and authorities involved, such as, but not limited to, “says Americanas in its statement.
It was on the night of January 11 that the first statement was made public informing that accounting errors had been detected that resulted in an unrecorded gap of at least R$ 20 billion in the company’s balance sheet.
“The Company, most interested in clarifying the facts, informs that it is and has always been available to collaborate with the investigations carried out by the authorities”, adds this Tuesday’s statement, signed by the CEO and investor relations director, João Guerra .
In a decision last week, the Justice of São Paulo complied with a request by Bradesco bank, one of the major creditors of Americanas, and allowed the searches and seizures of documents from the top leadership of the last ten years.
In the decision, Judge Andréa Galhardo Palma mentions that the measure was adopted due to the risk of destroying messages that could help clarify the case.
“Given the magnitude of the fact and the potential individual liability of the agents involved in suspected fraud, it is reasonable to assume that relevant and necessary evidence to verify the occurrence of illicit facts is at risk of perishing”, he mentions.
Just over a week after the scandal erupted, Americanas filed for bankruptcy, declaring debts that it is unable to pay in the order of R$ 40 billion.
It will be the fourth largest recovery process ever recorded in Brazil.
See below the full content of the statement released this Tuesday (31) by Americanas:
Under Judicial Reorganization (“Americanas” or “Company”), hereby informs its shareholders and the market in general that, in connection with the seizure of email boxes decreed by the Judgment of the 43rd Civil Court of the Central Civil Court of the Comarca of the Capital of São Paulo in an action for the early production of evidence, informs that, since the Material Fact published on January 11, 2023, several measures have been implemented with the objective of guaranteeing the strictest preservation of information and documents of the Company, all with the objective of contributing fully to the ongoing investigations and authorities involved, such as, but not limited to:
1. The hiring of IBPTECH, a forensic expertise institute led by Prof. doctor Giuliano Giova, nationally recognized and acting in judicial expertise for more than 20 years, and FTI Consulting, an international consulting company, operating in thirty countries, with the purpose of preserving data, through forensic copying (byte by byte, with generation of hash code with registration in notarial minutes by notary office), and FTI Consulting will also act in the same sense.
2. The implementation of additional internal measures for the protection of data and information, with the hiring, for this purpose, of ICTS Security, a consulting company specialized in information security, recognized for 5 consecutive years with the pro-ethics seal by the Comptroller’s Office -General of the Union.
3. The Company, most interested in clarifying the facts, informs that it is and has always been available to collaborate with the investigations carried out by the authorities.
Source: CNN Brasil
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