THE LOOKOUT | Pedroso Leal was “tightened” and confronted with his failures as president of Nersant

Frederico Roque, from Roques Vale do Tejo, addressed the president of the Nersant board, António Pedroso Leal, lamenting his lack of ability to monitor the association’s day-to-day activities. “He stated that he is a 64-year-old man, used to managing companies, I am surprised at how surprised he was by the results that Nersant’s accounting did not show. As an entrepreneur in a family business, like most Nersant associates, the following month we have the accounts for the previous month. It seems strange to me that it should be the supervisory board that requests an audit. What were you doing the rest of the year?”, he asked, finishing: “my question is: do you think you have the conditions to continue as president of this association?”, he concluded.

João Lucas, from Carmóvel, who was vice-president of Nersant during Domingos Chambel’s presidency, recalled Pedroso Leal’s words when he said that he considered putting in place a PER (Special Revitalization Process), but ended up not finding it necessary or feasible. “My question is whether this association is in the technical conditions to benefit from an application for a PER”, he asked.

Diogo Palha, from Ingredient Odyssey SA (Entogreen), who worked for Nersant for several years, stated that many of the association’s technicians who were dismissed from their roles could have provided valuable help for the current president to understand the reality of the association. “You stated that you want to reaffirm the value of Nersant. The value is based on its history and the people who make it up. Without people, Nersant has practically no value and the association has let the overwhelming majority of its staff leave in recent years. He let 20 leave and most of them worked with us in the companies”, he stressed. Diogo Palha stated that the association stopped leading projects, did not participate in any mobilizing agenda of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and abandoned flagship events, such as Nersant Business. “How are you going to, without these people, even managing to sell the assets, carry out the following projects and then be able, in the case of taking out a mortgage, to pay the debt to the bank?”, he asked.

Vasco Duarte, partner at LisTorres, criticized the fact that a general meeting was called just for the English to see. “When I saw the call, I thought I was coming to a meeting to make decisions. I only see analyzes and reflections. When we reach the end, what are we going to do?”, he asked, adding: “I came here to find out what will be done in the face of this misfortune that Nersant is going through”, he stated.

Pedroso Leal said that he is monitoring the accounts, but that there are amounts that have not yet been accounted for and that will be presented in due time. Regarding whether he has the capacity to continue leading the management, Pedroso Leal stated “that the partners and the management think so, therefore the question does not arise”, although he said several times during the session that he has no problems in following his path if the associates so understand. Regarding the association’s difficulties in maintaining qualified staff and the consequent inability to carry out projects, Pedroso Leal limited himself to saying that “there is no party without there being rockets”.