Following the recent announcement of its agreement with its main financiers, Dutch company Royal
The Report to Shareholders provides a comprehensive overview of the irregularities, their impact and related corrective actions. The investigations revealed that the primary cause for substantial loss which Royal Imtech suffered is fraudulent actions in Poland and Germany; Imtech's business controls were not sufficient and have not worked adequately; and the corporate culture was too focused on good news. The report is to be discussed with shareholders during the Annual General Meeting to be held on 28 June, 2013.
The report also includes the corrective actions implemented by Imtech, including management changes in Germany and Poland, the filing of criminal complaints in Poland and Germany, enhanced business controls, as well as an improved governance, risk and compliance framework. In addition, new targets and related remunerations policies have been set.
Gerard van de Aast, CEO of Imtech comments: "The release of the Shareholder Report is an important yet sad milestone for Imtech. It brings to a close a difficult and distracting period. The findings as reported in the Shareholder Report are very serious. The new Board of Management strongly rejects unethical and undesirable business behaviour. Imtech does apologise to its shareholders, customers, suppliers and partners. Also our employees have been hard hit by the fraudulent actions from some former colleagues. To them we apologise as well. “The Shareholder Report has been written with full transparency, since we believe that healing from this dark chapter in Imtech's history must start with openness about the investigations and findings. It goes without saying that in the future this kind of conduct will not be tolerated. The corrective actions that have been and are being taken are in our view a clear and necessary response to what happened. Looking forward, Imtech will have to rebuild its reputation and regain the trust from all stakeholders. We will do so with vigour while adhering to the highest business ethics standards."