The head office and logo of Valeant Pharmaceuticals is shown in Laval, Que., on May 27, 2013.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
After being elected on Tuesday to serve on the board of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canadian banker Russel Robertson has been tapped to chair the embattled company's audit and risk committee.
Mr. Robertson, 69, is the head of anti-money laundering at Bank of Montreal and has been a chartered accountant for more than 35 years. Before joining BMO in 2008, he held senior roles at Deloitte & Touche LLP and now-defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP.
Mr. Robertson was one of three new independent directors elected on Tuesday at Valeant's annual meeting held at its Laval, Que., headquarters. Lead independent director Thomas Ross Sr. will chair the conduct and compliance committee, while outspoken activist investor William Ackman will lead the finance and transactions committee.
Nine of Valeant's 11 directors have been added to the board within the past year as part of a dramatic reshuffling after corporate scandal first rocked the drug maker nine months ago. The company has admitted that it "had material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting," forcing it to restate its financial results from 2014 and 2015.
Cleaning this up will be a challenge for Mr. Robertson and the two other directors who will join him on the committee: ValueAct Capital Management LP partner Robert Hale and Robert Power, who has served on the Valeant board since 2008. The trio is tasked with overseeing the quality and integrity of financial statements, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, including disclosure, and managing internal controls.
Valeant has restated its past earnings because it prematurely booked about $58-million (U.S.) of revenues tied to mail-order pharmacy Philidor Rx Services, which it controlled but had not disclosed. The company is being investigated in the United States by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its aggressive accounting tactics.
Several class-action lawsuits have been filed against Valeant alleging that shareholders have suffered losses after it misrepresented or failed to disclose its connection to Philidor, which has since been shuttered.