CCH chairman Mario Pinheiro has received a vote of confidence from his board, which has refused his offer of resignation after an eight month investigation into insider trading by the Financial Services Board (FSB).
The FSB is investigating Pinheiro for suspected insider trading that allegedly occurred at the end of 1998 and January 1999, at which time CCH acquired a stake in Infracom.
Pinheiro says he has decided to go public with the details of the investigation after a gruelling eight months. Crediting his resilience to the support of CCH members of staff, Pinheiro says he feels "badly treated and cheated" by the FSB.
Rob Barrow, deputy executive officer, investment institutions, at the FSB, says the case is subject to confidentiality clauses and he is unable to furnish any particulars on the case. However, he did say that the case was handed over to the director of Public Prosecutions yesterday, and it is up to the director to decide whether the case should be prosecuted.
Barrow says the case against Pinheiro is one of three CCH insider trading cases that the board is investigating.
The FSB has, according to Pinheiro, failed to allow him to personally put forward his case to the board on numerous occasions.
"Four-and-a-half months after the beginning of the investigation, I wrote a letter to the FSB to complain about the process of the investigation," says Pinheiro. "The board has summonsed family, friends and private investors, but has never allowed me the opportunity to put my case forward."
The CCH board unanimously resolved not to accept Pinheiro`s offer to resign. Stressing that its chairman had not been found guilty of any offence, the board believes it is in the best interest of CCH and its shareholders for Pinheiro to remain in his current position.
CCH shares have taken a pounding lately, and Pinheiro says he realised that the market saw the investigation against him as a magnification of possible managerial troubles, and he was looking forward to "finally having a fair hearing and the opportunity to see due process take its course".
Pinheiro says the insider trading investigation has taken its toll on the top brass at CCH, but has also extended to his family and friends, whom he says have had to put up with FSB`s badgering without the benefit of legal representation.
"I`m not guilty and I will not settle with the FSB; it has tried to get me to pay a settlement fee four times already," says Pinheiro. "I don`t need luck, I just need a fair process," he concludes.
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