A “court audit” carried out at Vicentin SAIC by the General Syndicate of the Nation (Sigen), by express request for the intervention designated by DNU 522, reveals the serious irregularities in the administration of the company, the lack of internal controls and absence of supporting documentation of the operations that are declared. In addition, millions of operations are detected in the days prior to the declaration of cessation of payments (December 5, 2019) of transfers between related companies. The sale of the shares owned by Vicentin Uruguay in the Renova company, considered one of the “jewels” of the group, is hardly mentioned in board minutes as a report of “progress in the sale dealings” without evaluation of the reasons or convenience of the operation, being that it was completed for a millionaire figure (122 million dollars) and just three days before the cessation of payments. On the other hand, that same day, December 5, the total sale of the Tastil SA share package to Losagor SA for 1.6 million dollars is reported, with no other reference in the respective Minutes of the Board of Directors (AD 2465) . An operation for which, until now, there were no references.
All these elements, along with others of equal gravity, such as that Vicentin SAIC did not present the balance sheets of the last financial year to accompany its request for Summons of Creditors in February of this year, are being evaluated both by the Intervention headed by Gabriel Delgado – today inactive by decision of the commercial judge Fabian Lorenzini- as by the General Inspectorate of Legal Persons of Santa Fe. It is discounted that the latter will incorporate all the irregularities verified by the Sigen, in the extension of the request for displacement of the Vicentin Board of Directors made in the last week, calling for the appointment of a judicial intervention. Judge Lorenzini had opened a process of “separate incidence” for the serious complaints, of which he requested expansion of evidence. In the next few hours, these tests will be on your desktop.
Furthermore, the study, carried out in just four days and without the collaboration of company executives or managers, shows the “confusion” that exists between the accounts of Vicentin SAIC and twelve other companies managed by the same administration at the same address. The board minutes lack analysis of significant operations, such as the sale of companies or millionaire shareholdings in dollars, as well as the medium and long-term strategic plans and investment plans are not shown.
Audit interruptus
Shortly after he began his task, interrupted a week and a half later, the auditors in Vicentin understood the need for an “audit of documentation cuts and book closings”, which he could present to the company’s creditors. and the national State itself to evaluate the feasible ways to rescue the holding’s activity. He summoned the Sigen as a control body, which began its task the Tuesday after the arrival of Luciano Zarich (sub-controller) at the plant, but only allowed it to continue until the following Friday, June 19, when Judge Lorenzini resolved the restitution of the Board headed by Sergio Nardelli at the head of the company.
The audit period was short but sufficient to detect serious irregularities. Verification that, on the other hand, compromises the actions of the judge and the trustees, who did not warn or did not attach importance to the serious failures of documentation and procedures. Mainly, not having presented the last balance sheet (closed on October 31) to expose the situation of the company to the more than 2,600 creditors who were pushed into the bankruptcy.
The main observations of the Sigen report, as found by Página / 12, were the following:
All in family. “Lack of information and documentation related to the true integration of the Holding of Companies that integrates Vicentín SAIC, preventing verification of the actual composition of the same. Information was formally requested on the shareholding composition of the Companies in which the company is a minority shareholder, as well as any other documentation that would allow us to understand the relationship between the Vicentin SAIC and Vicentin Family Group Companies, data that was not provided. ”
In the same mud. “The company itself, in the Minutes of Intervention drawn up on 06/11/20, states that Vicentin SAIC manages Buyanor SA, Algodonera Avellaneda SA, Oleaginosa San Lorenzo SA, Renopack, Sir Cotton SA, Emulagrain SA, Sottano SA, Servicios Fluviales SRL, Rio del Norte SA, Vicentín Desarrollos SA, Sudestes Textiles SA and Diferol SA “. All under the same administrative area and in the same domicile, even in those where Vicentin has a minimum participation in the shares. In Algodonera and Sir Cotton it appears with 3%, in Buyanor with 0.6.
Everyone’s box. The tonnage verified the existence of 5,865,397 pesos in cash. The Treasurer (unique for all companies) clarified that what belonged to Vicentin was 4,422,344 pesos. Of the rest, just over 1.4 million corresponded to Algodonera Avellaneda, and the rest in small proportions from Buyanor, Río del Norte, Oleaginosa San Lorenzo and Emulgrain, in a striking asset-equity confusion.
Suspicious movement. According to the records provided, prior to Vicentín SAIC declaring itself in default, on December 5, 2019, the group issued checks for $ 90.7 million pesos, of which $ 78.5 million were issued by Controlled Companies in favor of Vicentín SAIC. There is no clear justification for these transfers between the group’s firms, about which the document that Vicentin presented in her post days ago does not report either.
That is not recorded in the Minutes. “From the reading of the minutes of the Board of Directors, the scant analysis of the topics discussed at the meetings of the Administrative Body can be seen. In this sense, there is no reference to having Reports from the Technical and Legal Areas that support the adopted temperament by said corporate body, in the resolutions adopted “. He cites the examples already mentioned of the sale, in the same week but reported by separate acts, of Renova SA (Acts of Directory 2461 and 2463) and Tastil SA (Act of Directory 2465), In those referring to Renova, “beyond To inform the progress in the sale dealings and to ratify the management developed by the company attorneys, the amounts of the operation involved or the reasonableness of the prices of the transferred shares are not recorded in the minutes or in attached reports, nor the application of the funds resulting from said operation, “which would have been more than $ 122 million dollars. Both operations, almost simultaneous with the declaration of cessation of payments.
Many of these elements will appear informed in the presentation made this week by the IGPJ of Santa Fe, which will insist on the judicial intervention that Governor Omar Perotti had proposed. On the other hand, this audit and other elements that appear, are transforming the “indications” that were expressed as “suspicions” of emptying, fraudulent administration, money laundering and aggravated evasion, into elements of evidence that call for a thorough criminal investigation. .
– .
