By Christina Zander
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STOCKHOLM--Two audits into alleged misuse of resources at
Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA-B.SK) have found that representatives of
the Swedish hygiene product and paper company "acted in compliance
with Swedish law and the company's policies," SCA said
Wednesday.
The audits conclude that even if the costs of business travel in
SCA are excessively high and billing procedures have been faulty,
there are no grounds to make financial claims against individuals,
the company said.
The Swedish daily SvD Naringsliv has made several allegations
over recent months about personal use of SCA's corporate jet by
then chairman Sverker Martin-Lof and other executives.
These allegations led to the departure of Mr. Martin-Lof, a
powerful figure in the Swedish business world, and of SCA's chief
executive Jan Johansson. Mr. Johansson was replaced by Magnus Groth
this year.
Mr. Martin-Lof also stepped down as chairman in Swedish
investment giant Industrivarden (INDU-A.SK) and from the boards of
several of its portfolio companies in one of the biggest shake-ups
of corporate Sweden in decades.
In addition to his chairmanship at Industrivärden, Mr.
Martin-Löf gave up his roles as chairman of both SCA and steelmaker
SSAB AB (SSAB-A.SK), the role of vice chairman of Handelsbanken
(SHB-B.SK) and Ericsson (ERIC), and as board member at Skanska
(SKA-B.SK).
Two audits, one by the accounting firm PwC, which was appointed
by the shareholders, and another set up by SCA's board from Svante
Forsberg, a public accountant at Deloitte, and Johan Munck, former
Justice of the Supreme Court, have now ruled that neither Swedish
law nor company policy has been broken the company said. As a
result, the board of directors and the former president should be
discharged from liability, SCA said.
However, the latter of the two audits said that even if no
company policies were violated, SCA's policy regarding business
travel has been "generous".
SCA changed its policy on travel using the company jet in
December last year, and no longer allows the plane to be used by
representation or family members of employees.
The auditors also concluded the costs of the business jet, which
amounted to SEK325 million ($38 million) from 2010 to 2014, didn't
meet "the estimates and assumptions in connection with the
company's investment in the aircraft."
SCA's new Chairman Par Bohman told The Wall Street Journal that
the costs for the corporate jet are too high and that the board has
now been tasked with finding a cheaper solution.
"The costs have to come down below SEK65 million per year," he
said.
Another concern raised by the auditors were the "internal
routines" that led to a number of trips "being subjected to
re-invoicing."
"The procedures for billing of travel, mainly for accompanying
family members, has not worked satisfactorily during the time that
our examination covers, however, this applies only small amounts,"
said Mr. Forsberg.
Since the allegations of misuse of the corporate jet was first
reported in the Swedish media late last year SCA has "re-invoiced"
a total amount of SEK439,000 in relation to relatives' travel.
An investigation by Sweden's national anti-corruption unit into
any possible misuse of SCA's corporate jet is still ongoing.
Write to Christina Zander at christina.zander@wsj.com
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