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The conflict between Jose Luis Freire and numerous partners of Marfrío began eight years ago. (Photo: La Voz de Galicia/ Marfrio/ FIS)
Heavy court battle between Marfrio and Freire gets underway
(SPAIN, 10/20/2010)
La Voz de Galicia newspaper reported today that four board members from the Marfrío seafood company, have been forced to go to court as a prosecutor and an associated shareholder, Mr. José Luis Freire - the president of Conxemar and partner of Cabomar - have accused them of corporate crimes. The prosecutor has asked for a minimum sentence of two and half years in prison for each of the defendants.
Those implicated in the case have been accused by Mr. Freire of evading payments, allegedly to a tax haven during his tenure as CEO of Marfrío (a company he co-founded in 1985). The defendants claim that he was not removed from his post, but instead he "resigned" in 2002.
According to the newspaper, the defendants are Pedro José Otaegui - the current president and CEO of Marfrío; José Ramón Pérez Ojeda - a partner at Copemar and a Marfrío shareholder; Justo Ojeda - the president of Copemar; Javier Otaegui - the head of Pesquera Echalar as well as an additional shareholder and the nephew of the current president of Marfrío.
Despite the prosecutors envisaged sentence, José Luis Freire and his sons have sought for the accused to be incarcerated for at least four years each, as they claim that the accused have committed corporate crimes, resulting in tax evasion and an increase in their share prices as they mis-informed the public with regards to their profit margins.
Freire retained today only 2 per cent of his shares in the Marfrío group, which were integrated into their headquarters (based in Marin), the company Pralisa - which has a frozen fish factory located in Vilanova de Cerveira (Portugal) and the joint venture in Namibia, Seaflower, which owns a large fish processing factory as well as a fishing vessel.
Freire accuses the executives of taking advantage of their majority position in the company in order to adopt an abusive agreement, distort information that was sent to him and falsifying financial accounts, which did not include the sale of a boat and a subsidiary. Therefore he is claiming EUR 2.3 million in compensation.
The prosecution did not quantify the amount of compensation to be paid to José Luis Freire and his sons Eduardo and Enrique, as it will be determined by the courts in the near future.
The article, which was written by the journalists E.V. Pita and Luis Carlos Llera, also adds that "The President and CEO of the company, Pedro José Otaegui, justified a series of business decisions, including strong capital increases without consulting Freire, on the grounds that they were about to suspend payments. He said he "had to pay" over 500 people and there was no liquidity, so the banks gave him more credit, as well as needing to inject EUR 3 million into a factory in Portugal.
The defendants argue that Freire withdrew as CEO voluntarily as members had lost confidence in him. In 2002, Freire owned 33 per cent of the businesses capital. The group was able to overcome their difficulties and in 2009, produced a turnover of EUR 74 million, leading to it becoming one of the top 10 seafood companies in Spain.
Freire will testify today.
For those who are not familiar with this story, it is worth remembering that back in 2002, some partners withdrew José Luis Freire ('Tibu' to his friends) from Marfrío in an unconventional way with regards to his position as CEO and participation in the board. Beyond having a psycho-emotional blow, José Luis Freire quickly managed to build up another company with his two sons and the unconditional support of many suppliers and customers, within a very short period of time they catapulted the brand "MarNatura" with a new concept and philosophy.
It has been almost eight years since that episode, but Freire is unlikely to give up until his is economically and morally rewarded after the blow he suffered at the time. And with a philosophy similar to the famous call by the General de Gaulle, made by the BBC, "We have lost the battle, but not the war", Freire now hopes to finally win this war.
By Brian Loubet Jambert
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
Information of the company:
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Address:
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Puerto Pesquero, Espigon Norte s/n
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City:
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Marin
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State/ZIP:
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Pontevedra, Galicia (36900)
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Country:
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Spain
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Phone:
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+34 986 903 050
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Fax:
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+34 986 903 098
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E-Mail:
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[email protected]
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