Chairman Johan Morten Nome and former finance officer Tommy Ballestad deeply disagree about why around half of the county team’s funds were spent on share purchases. Ballestad, who has left the People’s Party (FP) in favor of the Industrial and Business Party (INP), believes he has only followed up the board’s decision on share investments. – It is true that it was I who came up with the proposal that the People’s Party Vestfold and Telemark should invest in shares, and a board decision was made that we should do so. – As financial manager, I only carried out what the board decided. Now they blame me for the fact that the share investments did not go as planned, says Tommy Ballestad. Worth NOK 2,000 today In the annual report to the People’s Party Vestfold and Telemark for 2022, chairman Johan Morten Nome is clear that Ballestad is responsible. DEMAND REFUND: Chairman Johan Morten Nome in the People’s Party. Photo: Private – Unfortunately, we experienced that the board’s then financial manager, Tommy Ballestad, exceeded his powers and transferred NOK 349,000 to an external brokerage firm for stock investments. – The agreement was NOK 50,000 for share purchases and NOK 300,000 for savings. The shares he/they invested in went under (Flyr and XXL), and the value of the rest of the shares is today below NOK 20,000, writes Nome in the annual report To news, the chairman says that the shares now have a value of around NOK 2,000. He is also quite clear that it is former party colleague Ballestad who is to blame for the stock investments going west. – The case is simply that he has exceeded the powers the board gave him. He took too great a risk, says Johan Morten Nome. Got the go-ahead from the chairman According to the chairman, the party has now engaged a lawyer in an attempt to get Tommy Ballestad to pay back the roughly 300,000 kroner. – He spent 333,000 on share purchases for the county team, We had agreed on 50,000, claims chairman Nome. In an e-mail correspondence between Ballestad, chairman Nome and board member Jairo Tobon, it appears that Ballestad first asks to invest NOK 64,000 in the battery company Ensurge. news has obtained access to the email dialogue in which chairman Nome gives the go-ahead for Ballestad to trade shares for NOK 64,000. In other words, NOK 14,000 more than what the board had initially decided. – It is true that I gave permission for it, but it is all the other transactions that took place afterwards that are the problem, says Johan Morten Nome. Ballestad has another version. – I have given the board ongoing information about all share purchases I have carried out. Nome could only have informed me if he did not want the transactions to go through, but I never heard anything, says Tommy Ballestad. – GO ON: In an email to Tommy Ballestad, Johan Morten Nome gave the go-ahead for the first share purchase of NOK 64,000. Photo: Screenshot Frames the election campaign According to the annual report, the county team still has around NOK 300,000 in its account. However, Chairman Nome does not hide the fact that the money that disappeared on the stock exchange has consequences for the election campaign. – We receive NOK 400,000 a year in public subsidies. Losing 300,000 is a powerful blow to us. These are public funds. – It gives us limited space for the election campaign, which starts now, and sets limits on how much activity we can have, says Johan Morten Nome. Folkets Parti has engaged lawyer Harald André Ryen at Advokatfirmaet Mageli on the occasion of the case. The lawyer has sent a letter to Tommy Ballestad, initially to get his version of what happened. – I have received the letter from the lawyer and am now preparing a reply, says Ballestad.
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The People’s Party lost over 300,000 on share investments – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
