Former Nordic American Tankers (NAT) finance chief Turid Sorensen has told a Norwegian court that she was silenced by chief executive Herbjorn Hansson, alleging he prevented her from talking about what she perceived as financial problems for the tanker owner.
She told the local court in Sandefjord that New York-listed NAT was under financial pressure in 2017 and that the banks, in principle, could have called back their loans, according to Norwegian daily Dagens Naeringsliv.
“I would not be a part of a system that did not address this,” she said. “My view was that the company ought to sell its oldest ships, but I was not heard internally. I was muzzled over a dinner with Hansson.”
A few days later, she claimed she was not allowed to talk to the board about this.
Asked in court whether Sorensen was silenced, Hansson said: “I cannot recall. But I believe she cried.”
“I did not,” Sorensen replied.
Hansson claimed Sorensen is wrong in her description of NAT’s financial situation. In court, he described her as a nice and solid person but said she was given larger tasks in the company than what she could handle.
“This I have to take responsibility for,” Hansson said, adding that he considers himself as having an inclusive leadership style.
NAT sold its 10 oldest suezmax tankers for scrap last year.
The Norwegian suezmax specialist announced in June 2017 that Sorensen was leaving the company. Since then, she and former NAT technical director Paal Stenberg have established competing Faerder Tankers Norway.
The court fight began after Sorensen sued NAT and Hansson for not giving her a bank guarantee for her NOK 17.6m ($2m) pension. Hansson said in court that Sorensen would receive her pension, but not the bank guarantee, as he considered her behaviour towards NAT as disloyal.
Sorensen has served 13 years as chief financial officer at NAT. Before that, she worked with Hansson previously at Kosmos and Anders Jahres Rederi, both Sandefjord-based companies.
