06/27/2024 – 9:58
By Rodrigo Viga Gaier
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -The former executive president of Americanas and the former director of retailer Anna Saicali will have their names included on Interpol’s red list of wanted people after the Federal Police were unable to execute preventive arrest warrants against them both because the two are abroad, said a source with knowledge of the case.
The arrest warrants were issued by the 10th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro as part of the Disclosure operation, which investigates the participation of the company’s former directors in the 25.3 billion reais accounting fraud that led Americanas to judicial recovery.
The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) confirmed that the targets of the arrest warrants were not found because they are abroad, but did not disclose their names. The PF also did not officially release the names of those involved.
In a statement released earlier, the PF said that, in addition to the arrest warrants, 80 federal police officers also sought to execute 15 search and seizure warrants at the homes of former directors of the retailer in Rio de Janeiro.
The investigations are a joint effort between the Federal Police, the Federal Public Ministry and the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM). The investigations also count on the collaboration of the current board of Americanas, said the PF.
In addition to the arrest and search and seizure warrants, the court also ordered the seizure of assets and values of the former Americanas directors under investigation in an amount exceeding 500 million reais, said the PF.
“The investigation also revealed strong evidence of the crime of market manipulation, use of privileged information, also known as ‘insider trading’, criminal association and money laundering. If convicted, they could serve a sentence of up to 26 years in prison,” said the PF in the note.
In a statement, Americanas said that “it reiterates its confidence in the authorities investigating the case and reinforces that it was the victim of results fraud by its former management, which intentionally manipulated existing internal controls”.
“Americanas believes in Justice and awaits the conclusion of the investigations to hold everyone involved legally responsible,” said the retailer.
The hole in Americanas was revealed in January 2023 by the company’s newly appointed board of directors. On the eve of the announcement, the company’s shares were traded at around 12 reais. On Thursday the stock closed at 0.40 reais.
Subsequently, the company, whose main shareholders are the trio of billionaire founders of 3G Capital — Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira — accused Gutierrez and other former company employees of committing fraud.
Gutierrez, who is living in Spain, denied having knowledge of accounting irregularities at the company during the period he ran the retailer. In testimony to the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) created in the Chamber of Deputies to investigate the case, Anna Saicali denied having participated in fraud at the company.
When contacted, representatives for Gutierrez did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was not possible to contact representatives for Anna Saicali.
(Text by Eduardo SimõesEditing by Camila Moreira and Paula Arend Laier)
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