Capella lost summary proceedings against Curoil

July 06, 2011 10:13 AM

The Court ruled yesterday that Curoil does not have to pay former director Gensley Capella any salary until a judgement is given in the basic procedure around his departure with the government NV. Moreover, Capella is to return the company car and fuel card.

According to the interim judgment of the Court, the decision to reappoint Capella was not done legally. The decision contravenes the statutes of legal shareholder StIP. The general meeting of shareholders (AVA) of Curoil or the Board of Directors (RvC) was involved with the decision to extend Capella’s agreement with five years. This agreement determined that Capella would receive retroactively a salary rise of 3 percent per year and a bonus of 1.5 times the gross monthly salary on the past three years. The judge states that the decision can be reversed.
According to the judge, under the given circumstances it should have been reasonably clear to Capella that StIP board members Da Silva Gois and Emerenciana did not have the exclusive authority to appoint a director with Curoil. The procedure for a possible reappointment of Capella was embedded in his agreement, which determines that a committee of three of which one member was appointed by the RvC, would evaluate Capella. According to the judge, a job evaluation never took place. On the contrary, Capella drew up a ‘self-evaluation’.

Advance
The former director began his employment with Curoil in June 2006. His contract was valid for five years and expired on June 11th 2011. Capella wanted a monthly advance of 19,750 guilders plus medical insurance for him and his family until the verdict in the basic procedure. The validity of the reappointment is under debate in the basic procedure. As losing party, Capella is to pay the legal costs. In a reaction, Capella states he is yet to review the verdict. Together with his lawyer, he will consider further action.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

4 July 2011