MTC cancels on turbulent meeting

This is reported by a group of dissatisfied members (who have lost an average of more than €100.000 in deposits) and is confirmed by co-director Filip Tilleman and other members. However, he does not want to comment further. Director Dirk Coucke says that he is also unable to respond.

Tense atmosphere
The meeting took place in an extremely tense atmosphere, according to people who were present. A number of farmers brought lawyers and even a bailiff. These tried to verify who was present and who had issued proxies - apparently because there was no confidence that everything would go well with votes and mandates. However, the lawyers were not allowed to be present during the vote on the annual accounts. That vote didn't take place until very late in the evening. By then, a number of digital attendees had long since dropped out, partly because the meeting was difficult to follow remotely and sometimes even the only microphone was turned off, says one person involved. 

Nightly decision
At half past two in the morning it was clear to the board that the books for 2021 could be closed and that a loss of €30 million had to be reported, according to those present. The voting result would have been 55% in favor and 45% against. Almost the entire Dutch board and part of the Belgian board have also resigned. Opinions differ as to how regulatory the decisions were at that time. According to Herman Overmars, now former director, the Dutch board is also not legal, because it is not registered with the Chamber of Commerce. "I found that out later. We were a fake board." He also believes that last week's annual meeting was not according to the regulations, because it took place on Dutch territory and that is contrary to the articles of association, he says. "In addition, voting is not allowed via Zoom and the voting results could not be independently verified."

Continue covering
According to those present, the current board wants to continue capping milk prices at a level of 48 to 50 cents. Many members no longer see this as an option. Partly because the losses have become too great and partly because they think the prices mentioned are too low in relation to the sharply increased costs.

Lawyer involved
Members and ex-members of MTC are willing to talk about their experiences with MTC, but almost only anonymously. They are ashamed of the situation they have found themselves in. "We thought we were participating in a bona fide and professional organization, but we were misled. This was partly because the board had the backing of DLV. Everything was done on DLV stationery and some of the people also work there. In our view, DLV is therefore partly responsible." Overmars calls MTC 'a pyramid'. "Compare it with the interest rate swaps. In the meantime, Coucke is not in pain, because he collects half a million a year from brokers. That has been sorted out." Some of the farmers have hired the law firm CliffordChance from Brussels to seek redress.

"The MTC board has taken all kinds of decisions. But how, on what grounds and with what mandate is unclear to us. In any case, they have acted differently than what we were led to believe. But how do we check that?", said a member. According to members, there are not even any minutes of board meetings.