Joao Pedro Reinhard steps down from RBC, Colgate boards after cocaine charges

Joao Pedro Reinhard, who stepped down Thursday as a director of Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Royal Bank of Canada, was charged last month in Canada with possession of cocaine.

Reinhard, 70, who resides in Key Biscayne, Florida, was charged on Feb. 23 in Mississauga, west of Toronto, for unlawful importing and possession of cocaine under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Toronto-based Royal Bank said in a statement Thursday that Reinhard resigned in the board effective immediately, without giving grounds. Reinhard is a director at Canada’s biggest bank since 2000.

“This is really a matter between the authorities and Mr. Reinhard,” Royal Bank spokeswoman Claire Holland said in an e-
mailed statement. “We are able to provide no further comment.”

Related

Aviva Canada Inc to buy RBC General Insurance Company for $582 millionJ. Pedro Reinhard resigns from Royal Bank of Canada board

Reinhard also stepped down from the Colgate-Palmolive board, based on a March 10 company filing. Allison
Klimerman, a company spokeswoman, didn’t immediately provide further comment.

Reinhard, who was an executive v . p . and chief financial officer of The Dow Chemical Co. from 1996 to 2005, is another former director of Coca-Cola Co.

Calls along with a fax to Reinhard’s Florida home weren’t returned.

Reinhard’s resignation happens per month before Royal Bank’s annual general meeting on April 6, when his current term
as director was set to expire. Reinhard wasn’t seeking renewal this year, according to proxy circular filings.

Reinhard was charged a day before the bank reported fiscal second-quarter results, on Feb. 24. The bank’s board typically meets before answers are released.

Bloomberg News