Steen Bryde reported to the Fraud Squad
SHIPPING: The Supervisory Board of Nordic Tankers on Wednesday asked the Fraud Squad to investigate the former members of the Supervisory Board Steen Bryde, Brian Soholt Petersen and Jesper Bo Nielsen, who are reported for fraudulent abuse of their position.
The information relates to the executive service agreement with Steen Bryde and the CFO service agreement with Brian Soholt Petersen, signed on 12 January 2009, the management agreement and the brokerage agreement between Nordic Tankers and the companies Nitasco Aps and Nitasco Maritime ApS, owned by Jesper Bo Nielsen, which were also signed on 12 January 2009.
Moreover, the information relates to the decision made by Steen Bryde, Brian Soholt Petersen and Jesper Bo Nielsen immediately before they left the Supervisory Board to have Nordic Tankers enter into voluntary, enforceable settlements and instruments of debt with respect to these agreements.
Finally, the information relates to the fact that on 12 January 2009 Steen Bryde, Brian Soholt Petersen and Jesper Bo Nielsen signed a settlement with the company P 2008 3 ApS, which is presumably owned by Steen Bryde's wife. The settlement resolved a claim originally brought against Nordic Tankers by Bryde Gruppen ApS and later assigned to P 2008 3 ApS.
Based on the advisory services that the Supervisory Board has received, the Supervisory Board considers the said agreements, settlements and instruments of debt to be void and, therefore, not binding on Nordic Tankers.
Moreover, the Supervisory Board considers the transactions conducted by Steen Bryde, Brian Soholt Petersen and Jesper Bo Nielsen in connection with the signing of the agreements a criminal offence, and the Board will now leave it up to the Public Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime to conduct a further investigation.
The investigation of the transactions undertaken by the former management has not been concluded yet, but according to the Supervisory Board, those transactions do not seem to threaten the financial position of the company.
Source: Nordic Tankers
