Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group and GC Holding, has filed a criminal complaint acting both in his personal capacity and as legal representative of the companies, alleging financial collusion and mismanagement.
The news comes a week after the Italian boatbuilder launched a forensic financial investigation into ‘unauthorised’ overspending. News of the investigations comes following the resignation of chair Filippo Menchelli and vice chair Marco Carniani last week, with the board of directors unanimously electing CEO and founder Giovanni Costantino as chair.
Costantino’s complaint concerns ‘several former senior executives’ of TISG who previously headed key corporate functions. The individuals, not officially named, are alleged to have ‘acted in coordination with one another’ over a period of time.
The complaint states that ‘the individuals concerned are alleged to have carried out, over time, a series of coordinated actions aimed at concealing the actual management of orders’ and providing Costantino with ‘accounting and managerial information relating to specific orders that did not correspond to the true situation.’
The action has been submitted with the assistance of lawyers Francesco Marenghi and Massimiliano Manzo.
According to the complaint, this alleged concealment occurred through the covert circumvention of the company’s internal order management system.
Documentation referenced in the complaint includes accounting and managerial materials related to orders, including reports concerning cash flows, order budgets and bank statements.
The complaint states that ‘alterations’ were made to these documents, creating a false representation of the firm’s financial situation that was ‘not identifiable’ by CEO Costantino.
The complaint has been filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Massa.
In a statement, Costantino’s lawyers say that he has ‘acted promptly, with the support of the board of directors, to ensure the continuation of TISG’s normal business operations, the completion of all ongoing orders and the continued development of the company.’
In February, the firm took a €25m shareholder loan to mitigate an erosion of its cash position.
Workers at The Italian Sea Group staged a two-hour strike in February, before the loan was secured, after their wages were delayed by eight days due to liquidity problems.
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