The Board of OHL México reaffirms its zero-tolerance principle against corruption
June 1, 2015
Last Friday, 29 May, the Board of Directors of OHL México held an extraordinary meeting on the latest events involving the company. In the significant event sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange, the Board declared its “total trust in the Company’s Executive Management, headed by the General Manager”, and highlighted that “it will at all times continue operating further to its zero-tolerance principle against corruption, as it has always done since it was incorporated”.
The Board adopted the resolutions reflected in the significant event, “in the belief that the content of the new recordings published are part of a campaign orchestrated to discredit the Company, as evidenced in the audits conducted until now, and as will be confirmed by those published in the future, both at the request of the Company and those completed by various public bodies”. In the Board’s opinion, the “campaign orchestrated against OHL México is totally groundless”.
SIGNIFICANT EVENT SENT TO THE MEXICAN STOCK EXCHANGE
Mexico City, 1 June 2015 – OHL México, S.A.B. de C.V. (“OHLMEX” or the “Company”) would like to hereby inform its investors that, as a result of recent events, the Board of Directors convened last Friday at an extraordinary meeting, called at the request of the Auditing Committee and endorsed by the other directors, to adopt the following resolutions, in the belief that the content of the new recordings published are part of a campaign orchestrated to discredit the Company, as evidenced in the audits conducted to date, and as will be corroborated by those published in the future, both at the Company’s request and those completed by various public bodies. The Board has agreed as follows:
1. Pursuant to the provisions of the Securities Market Act, to ratify that all executive tasks are entrusted to the General Manager, and that the Shareholders Meeting has not assigned any executive duties to the Board’s Chairman and Vice Chairman.
2. Further to the public statements made by the Magistrates involved in the litigation concerning the Company, who outright deny having received any kind of payment from the Company, and given that the processing of lawsuits has always been entrusted to top-rank external law firms, renowned in Mexico, the Board has decided to not dismiss the Legal Manager, but to recuse him from all judicial proceedings.
3. Further to the foregoing and as reported by the Company’s General Manager, on the total absence of any kind of illegal payment, in order to ensure the maximum transparency and pursuant to the Company’s regular practice -in line with best corporate government practices, promoted by the Auditing Committee and fully endorsed by the rest of the Board- investigation proceedings have been filed by a lawfirm of renowned prestige in Mexico, in relation to the recent videorecording distributed.
The market will be accordingly informed of the outcome of these proceedings.
4. In relation to the other audits ordered by the Board of Directors at the request of the Auditing Committee, fully endorsed by its members, the Committee Chairman has announced that these audits are regularly progressing at adequate speed; the Company Management is collaborating in order to provide any information requested by the external auditing consultants.
5. The Board was informed by the General Manager that investigation and judicial proceedings have been filed against the authors of the campaign to discredit both the Company and its investors.
The Board took advantage of this new meeting to confirm amongst its investors that it holds total trust in the Company’s Executive Management, headed by the General Manager; it has declared that it will at all times continue to act further to its zero-tolerance principle against corruption, as it has been doing since it was incorporated.
The Board has also pointed out that, although to date the EY report, made public, has declared that OHL México has duly complied with all its agreements, legal and contractual obligations, should any ethical infringement be discovered on the part of any employee, the latter would be immediately dismissed pursuant to the zero-tolerance principle against corruption.
The Board is of the opinion that the campaign orchestrated against it is totally groundless.