The Toronto, Canada-based telecoms equipment provider said the delay means it will not be able to file third-quarter figures to meet the deadlines required to remain in compliance with US and Canadian securities regulations.
CEO Bill Owens said that he was not satisfied that given the enormous details and complexity involved, it would be able to meet the October deadline. He said the company has made great progress towards completion and has devoted massive resources to the restatement effort and is confident that it is close to the end of what he referred to as this critical chapter.
In April, Nortel fired CEO Frank Dunn, former CFO Douglas Beatty, and controller Michael Gollogly after discovering that its financial results for the past three years would have to be revised amid allegations that the figures were massaged to overstate losses during the downturn and then overestimate the extent of the recovery.
Nortel is currently at the center of a criminal investigation into the financial accounting situation by the Integrated Market Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and faces a probe by regulatory authorities and civil suits from shareholders.
