Personal statement

The death of Ricola Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Kohler, has sparked a great deal of public and media interest. Out of respect to his family, we have so far refrained from commenting on the exact circumstances of his death. However, to quash speculation and rumours, we would now like to make the following statement.

Last week, Mr Kohler informed the Executive Board of his own volition of irregularities regarding his personal business activities as Chief Executive Officer.

The Executive Board was perplexed by this information and decided in a meeting on Wednesday to relieve Mr Kohler of his duties until further notice in order to establish the precise facts of the situation.

Naturally, we assured Mr Kohler that we would proceed in a fair manner. We had arranged a meeting for the following morning, during which we had planned to discuss the next steps.

On Thursday morning, the police informed us that Mr Kohler had left his house during the night and that they could not rule out reckless actions against the company or persons connected to it. This was why the police came to the company’s offices in the early morning.

The police informed us of Mr Kohler’s suicide on Thursday evening.

We are still struggling to comprehend Adrian Kohler’s actions. However, it is important to us to remember that his commitment and hard work throughout all the years that he worked for Ricola brought outstanding credit to the company. He led the company successfully with the greatest care and diligence.

He was a good colleague and a dear friend to us all. His death has affected us greatly and we would like to extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family.

It goes without saying that our employees are feeling deeply shocked and unsettled by these events. A care team is on hand to offer support to staff.

I would like to stress that there is no indication that the company’s sound financial situation or its business development have been impaired.

All our employees are determined to overcome this crisis together. We would ask that the media respect the privacy of Mr Kohler’s family at this time.

Thank you.
Felix Richterich