Presidential hopeful Gareth Sheridan has said he knows “very little” about his business partner’s involvement in a controversial airline privatisation deal in Moldova.
Speaking at the formal launch of his presidential campaign in Dublin, Mr Sheridan said he had not spoken to his business partner Serguei Melnik, who has succeeded him as chief executive of his company Nutriband for the duration of the campaign, about his involvement in the Air Moldova deal and possible links to Russian oligarchs.
Mr Sheridan said he knew “very little about that situation” and added that it was “not an issue” in terms of the focus of his campaign, housing.
The 35-year-old said he was confident he had a proposer and seconder to secure nominations for Laois and Tipperary county councils and declined to name four others he also believed he could secure nominations from.
READ MORE
Mr Sheridan, who would be the youngest ever presidential candidate if he secures a nomination, has budgeted for a campaign fund of up to €500,000, although he hoped to do it for less from his own funds.
He said his net worth was $16 million (€13.7 million) based on the current value of his shares in his business Nutriband and he has $500,000 (€429,627) in cash holdings.
His campaign is focused on housing, he added, and he wants to “make Ireland home again”, a phrase he denied had Trumpian connotations.
He pointed to Article 45.2.1 of the Constitution which obliges the State to direct policy so that citizens “may through their occupations find the means of making reasonable provision for their domestic needs”. Mr Sheridan said people should be able to afford to buy a home in Ireland, which they are not able to do.
Launching his campaign at the Shelbourne Hotel, with his wife Heidi in attendance, Mr Sheridan started his address by drawing attention to media coverage of him in the last number of days, which he described as “a little off”.
He addressed his relationship with Sean Gallagher, who twice put himself forward unsuccessfully in presidential elections, and was executive chairman of Nutriband for four years to 2022.
[ Mairead McGuinness drops out of presidential race due to health reasonsOpens in new window ]
Mr Sheridan said that after the company was listed on the Nasdaq in the US, it was decided to replace Mr Gallagher with Serguei Melnik, who had more experience with capital markets.
“We asked [Mr Gallagher] to voluntarily step aside on the same remuneration,” he said. “Communication broke down at the next shareholder meeting” and Mr Melnik was voted in to replace Mr Gallagher.
Mr Gallagher then resigned from the Nutriband board. “I wish Sean the best in whatever he’s working on,” Mr Sheridan said.
In 2018, Mr Sheridan and his business associate, Mr Melnik, were fined $25,000 (€21,400) each by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arising from the issuing of misleading statements by Nutriband in 2017 and 2018, when the two men were the company’s only full-time employees.
Six statements made during the period mischaracterised the company’s products as not requiring regulatory approval in the US, the SEC said.
Asked about the fines, Mr Sheridan said they had received advice from two attorneys and a dermatologist who had independently advised that FDA approval was not needed.
He said in the business he was in, “you have to rely on people who are experts in that space. I’m not for a second claiming that I’m an FDA attorney”.
Mr Sheridan was asked for a response to a report that his business partner Mr Melnik, the US-resident Moldovan lawyer who is chairman and chief executive of Nutriband, was a shareholder in a company that bought Air Moldova in 2018 in a deal that became the subject of controversy in Moldova, leading to an inquiry by a parliamentary committee.
“It’s not an issue in terms of trying to put a focus on the housing crisis in Ireland,” he said.
Asked if he owned a home or invested in the private rental market he said: “We have our house in Utah and we have a rental house in Utah. We rent in Dublin.” He added: “There isn’t a housing crisis in Salt Lake City Utah, there is in Dublin.” He drives a “used 2021 Mercedes hybrid”.
