Wickes #50m rights issue 'on track' despite SFO
The Serious Fraud Office probe into the activities of former senior management and directors at Wickes is the latest and most significant investigation into the troubled DIY retailer. But a spokesman for the company said that it still intended to publish the document for its u50m rights issue and its revised 1995 accounts by mid-December.
Wickes said that it would ‘co-operate fully’ with the SFO. So far, no charges have been brought, no arrests have been made and none of the former executives are believed to have been interviewed yet.
The exact nature of the suspected fraud is unclear, given that Wickes has not lost any cash or property. Nor is it clear whether the SFO will look into the role of the suppliers, many of whom are said to have colluded with Wickes’s buying department to fabricate contract documentation.
The SFO is not believed to have been given a copy of the report prepared in October by Price Waterhouse and Linklaters & Paines – which is protected by client-lawyer privilege – but is thought to have been made aware of certain information contained in it. The SFO said that it was ‘liaising’ with PW and L&P.
Last month, the Financial Reporting Review Panel launched an investigation into Wickes’s 1995 accounts. The English ICA is also considering whether to initiate disciplinary proceedings against outgoing auditors Arthur Andersen.
