The director of the Portugal Open tennis competition today accused his creditors who have requested the insolvency of his company, João Lagos Sports, of wanting to destroy him - but they claim they only want their debts paid off.
According to the Ministry of Justice website ‘Citius’ where lawsuits and notices of insolvency are listed, at least two debtors officially have filed for the insolvency of João Lagos Sports - Events Management SA , the company that has battled to organise the Portugal Open this year.
The insolvency application has been spearheaded by the company that has supplied barriers to the Portugal Open for about 20 years, Unidade de Estruturas Metálicas SA, which claims €117,534.
João Lagos has hit back saying the insolvency order will not endanger the Portugal Open despite the insolvency application lodged in the Commercial Court of Lisbon.
João Lagos remains sanguine and said today that the court action will not jeopardise the tournament which starts on 26 April with the qualifying rounds.
"I'm not worried about insolvency because I am in a Special Revitalisation Plan which safeguards these situations. The PER mechanism was created by the state to help save businesses, and demonstrates that the company has viability and is worth saving, unlike those who have launched this insolvency proceding. If the company closes it’s game over and nobody gets anything," said João Lagos.
In March a former employee of the company, João Froes da Veiga Frade, applied for the insolvency of João Lagos Sports and demanded €30,000. On Tuesday another request was lodged at the Commercial Court of Lisbon by the steel structure supplier and Silvestre Festas Tendas, which also claims €30,000 but is part of the recovery plan which it already ahs agreed to.
João Lagos explained that the Revitalisation Plan aims to "safeguard the rights of creditors, creating conditions for the company to fulfill its obligations.”
The businessman declined to quantify the total amount of debt that João Lagos Sports owed to creditors, but admitted that among these are the State to which it owes IRS and Social Security payments.
