Lars Møller, who was the director of OW Bunker's subsidiary in Singapore, Dynamic Oil Trading, has appealed his damages judgment to the Supreme Court. This is reported by Finans, which has spoken to Lars Møller's lawyer, Arvid Andersen.
Together with the former CFO of OW Bunker Morten Skou, he was sentenced in the Eastern High Court on January 9 to pay a total of 200 million kroner in damages.
But the decision would not prove to be the final verdict in the case. Last week, Finans and Shippingwatch reported that only Morten Skou and subsequently the bankruptcy estate behind OW Bunker had chosen to appeal.
The large-scale damages case was filed in the wake of OW Bunker's bankruptcy. OW Bunker, which sold fuel to ships worldwide, went from being Denmark's second-largest company by revenue in 2013 to going bankrupt in November 2014. The bankruptcy occurred just eight months after the company went public. Thousands of investors lost money as a result. The case has been called the biggest stock market scandal in Danish history.
Owner and auditor acquitted
With the ruling on January 9, the High Court chose to acquit the company's former owner, the private equity fund Altor, the former top management and board of directors, and the company's auditor, Deloitte. And thus the result landed far short of the 1.2 billion kroner that trustee Søren Halling-Overgaard had demanded prior to the decision.
As trustee, he is responsible for the clean-up after OW Bunker's bankruptcy, and he is trying to collect money for the bankruptcy estate - and thus the banks and creditors who lost large sums in the bankruptcy 11 years ago.
Lars Møller's lawyer explains to Finans that, among other things, the verdict is being appealed on the grounds that he finds it wrong that a number of the other defendants at the Eastern High Court were exempted from paying compensation, the media outlet writes.
In 2019, the Western High Court sentenced Lars Møller to five years in prison for gross breach of trust when he acted outside the company's management and caused OW Bunker a loss of 645 million kroner.
The Eastern High Court referred to that verdict in its decision and noted that Lars Møller was "aware of the growing and real net receivables that the company had" with its customer Tankoil.
It is precisely the activity in relation to the Singapore company that is the reason why compensation had to be paid. The company had a lively trade with Tankoil. But Tankoil could not pay, and the loss contributed to OW Bunker's bankruptcy.
/ritzau/
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