SAO PAULO, June 14 (Reuters) - Fraud allegations by Brazil's Americanas against former executives are based on falsehoods and an incomplete report designed to disrupt ongoing investigations, lawyers for one of the accused former executives said on Wednesday.
The retailer's management disclosed a report from outside legal advisers on Tuesday that implicated several former executives, banks and audit firms in "fraudulently altered" financial statements.
Americanas filed for bankruptcy protection in January after uncovering a $4 billion accounting scandal. The report issued on Tuesday accused ex-CEO Miguel Gutierrez and half a dozen other former executives and employees of committing fraud.
Gutierrez did not respond to a request for comment, nor did other former executives named by Americanas or their lawyers, with the exception of former chief operating officer Jose Timotheo de Barros.
His lawyers said in a statement that the outside report contains "untruths" as well as unproven accusations.
The law firms that put together the Tuesday report did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside business hours.
The company report said that Barros was one of the former executives who exchanged emails that showed the existence of a false, parallel accounting statement that differed significantly from the one it disclosed publicly in 2021.
Current CEO Leonardo Coelho on Tuesday testified before lawmakers in Brasilia, arguing that the report documented fraud committed by the former executives, while insisting board members were not involved.
But Barros' defense team said the excerpts from the report were shown to the congressional committee "in a frivolous manner" and the document had been prepared in part to disrupt investigations. The lawyers said Coelho's testimony was "mere opinions of suspicions".
In response, Americanas said the information provided to lawmakers "speaks for itself" and that it would provide the report to all competent authorities.
The company's board removed Barros and other executives in February. (Reporting by Andre Romani; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Jamie Freed)