Navistar Sued By Institutional Investors

Navistar International Corp. has been sued by institutional investors who claim the company issued misleading financial statements for 2003 and 2004, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The parent company of International Truck and Engine Corp. filed reports last week for its 2003-2005 fiscal years, reporting losses for 2003 and 2004 and a profit for 2005.

The complaint, filed by Massachusetts’ Norfolk County Retirement System and Brockton Contributory Retirement System, names as defendants Navistar Chairman Daniel Ustian, two other executives and the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche LLP, Bloomberg said.

Navistar dismissed Deloitte in August 2006 as its accounting firm and replaced it with KPMG International.

Navistar was de-listed by the New York Stock Exchange in February because of delays in the filing of a restatement of its 2005 earnings.

In October, the company filed its first financial reports in two years, restating its 2003 and 2004 results to show a loss of $365 million where it had previously shown a profit of $230 million, Bloomberg reported.

Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley declined to comment on the shareholders’ suit, which was posted on the court’s Web site Friday, Bloomberg said.