Former Vivendi Executives Allegedly Pressured Auditors

French regulators have reportedly obtained documents showing that former executives at Vivendi Universal tried to pressure its auditors to adopt accounting changes that would have overstated the company’s annual profit.

The records, which include letters and e-mails, allegedly show that former Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier and former Chief Financial Officer Guillaume Hannezo brought heavy pressure on Vivendi’s French auditor to accept the way its American auditor, Arthur Andersen, had accounted for the sale of shares Vivendi held in the pay television service British Sky Broadcasting Group.

French regulators later rejected the accounting proposal, which allegedly would have inflated Vivendi’s profit by $1.4 billion.

French securities regulators seized the documents as part of an investigation that began in July into Vivendi’s financial disclosures since January 2001.

Vivendi executives declined to comment on the documents, which were published Tuesday in the French newspaper Le Monde. “We’re fully cooperating with the inquiry,” Vivendi spokeswoman Anita Larsen said.