TORONTO, (June 4, 2004) — The Ontario Securities Commission has announced “a quasi-criminal prosecution” against former top executives of Atlas Cold Storage Inc.

The charges allege former CEO Patrick Gouveia and three others — former chief financial officer Andrew Peters, Ronald Perryman, who was vice-president finance, and Paul Vickery, who was controller of the operating unit — violated the Securities Act by filing “materially misleading annual financial statements,” Canadian Press reports.

The company — which operated North America’s second-largest network of temperature-controlled warehouses, as well as trucking assets that supply food distributors and grocery chains — has been in financial disarray for nearly eight months since it announced last fall it would have to restate 2002 and 2001 financial statements after an internal investigation found irregularities.

Soon after, the company announced it would discontinue its Canadian trucking operations. It cited that its main troubles were in Western Canada, particularly at TCT Logistics, which sold all its refrigerated trucking assets to Atlas after it went into receivership in January of 2002.

Gouveia left the company after an investigation found the improper accounting practices which nearly brought the company down last fall. He was replaced in April by David Williamson, most recently senior vice-president for strategic planning and business development at Canada Life Assurance Co.

— with files from Canadian Press