At voestalpine

Accounting scandal: ex-manager denies accusations

voestalpine hid the accounting scandal in a German metal forming company on page 112 of its annual report.

(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart .)

voestalpine cannot rest. On June 5, the publication of the annual report for 2023/24 revealed that the steel group had discovered that the balance sheets of a German company had been falsified for years. Now the former manager, who is accused of being the mastermind in order to advance his career, is defending himself.

"We can confirm that, from today's perspective, at least two people were involved. These individuals were very familiar with the internal control systems and deliberately circumvented them," voestalpine announced on June 5, after the accounting scandal at a German company in the Metal Forming Division, which had already been uncovered in February and was so well concealed in the annual report, was made public.

"We have to assume that the deliberately induced earnings-improving false postings with regard to the accounting and valuation of assets amounted to around EUR 100 million over a period of a good ten years," the steel group also revealed. It was also announced: The former managing director of the company in question and later member of the Metal Forming Division's Management Board has no longer worked for the Group since fall 2023.

voestalpine to retract statements
After voestalpine CEO Herbert Eibensteiner made the accounting scandal a topic of discussion in a video message to employees on Wednesday, the former manager's lawyer has now sent a letter. "We have sent a letter to voestalpine asking them to refrain from making any allegations that my client has embellished balance sheets in the future and to retract the statements made in this regard," lawyer Friedrich Jergitsch told APA.

The former manager accuses voestalpine of creating the impression, against its better judgment, that he had embellished the balance sheets during his time as managing director in order to promote his career.