Essilor Luxottica suffered a 190 million euro fraud in Thailand. This was announced by the global eyewear giant itself, specifying that the fraudulent financial activities were detected in one of the factories of the subsidiary Essilor International.
The company makes it known that it has filed a complaint in Thailand and other jurisdictions and that it has "mobilized all appropriate internal and external resources" to put an immediate end to the fraudulent activities.
The company also stands looking for ways to recover funds misappropriated and mitigate the impact on the group.
All employees to date found to be involved in the fraud have been fired.
Furthermore, to prevent such damage from happening again, Essilor International has introduced new internal controls to strengthen safety protocols in all of its factories globally.
In any case, the financial impact of Thai fraud could be reduced thanks to any insurance reimbursements, possible compensation obtained through legal actions and recoveries of further sums currently frozen in various bank accounts.
Finally, the group let it be known that the loss caused by fraud will be recorded in 2019 operating results and will be treated as an adjustment factor to determine the adjusted values for the period.
Mid morning the stock on the stock exchange of EssilorLuxottica loses 2%, to 136,35 euros.
