Americanas proprietors Lemann, Telles, and Sicupira say they had no idea about the scandal. The main three shareholders who own 31% of the company issued a statement yesterday, Sunday 22nd January which declared they had never known anything about misappropriation of accounts at Americanas, i.e., embezzlement.
Its announcement was their first public statement since the outbreak of the accounting scandal of January 11th, and was an expected one to defend themselves from any wrongful doing. Exonerating themselves seemed the easiest approach to avoid being blamed for such drastic circumstances. However, with 43 billion reais gone amiss their plea for immunity is unlikely.
Shareholders say Americanas has been run by executives considered qualified and reputed over the last 20 years, and had one of the largest and most reputable independent auditing firms in the world, PWC.
"Like all other shareholders, creditors, customers and employees of the company, we firmly believed that everything was absolutely correct," the three shareholders said.
"We reaffirm our commitment to work for the company's recovery as soon as possible, focused on ensuring a promising future for the company, its thousands of employees, partners and investors and reaching a good understanding with creditors."
If you ask me then I’ll say that these guys are professionals in every way. They look the part, they dress well, and clearly, they are innocent unless they can be proved guilty without a shadow of doubt. I rest my case!
Have a terrific day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Embezzlement (n) = misappropriation, misuse, theft, larceny, pilfering, fraud, stealing, cheating
i.e. (abbreviation) = in other words
Amiss (adj) = not quite right; inappropriate or out of place. "There was something amiss about his calculations" (adv) = wrongly or inappropriately. “The prime minister may have constructed his cabinet a little amiss."
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