The public prosecutor’s office has been notified of significant irregularities in the recent merger between the Lotos fuel company and PKN Orlen, the largest fuel company in Central and Eastern Europe that is also majority state-owned, representatives of the parliamentary opposition announced during a press conference.
Following the European Commission’s approval, PKN Orlen and Lotos S.A merged into one company on 1 August. As part of the merger, it was decided that Hungarian company MOL would take over 417 stations of the Lotos Group, while a 30% share in the Lotos refinery in Gdansk would be acquired by Saudi Armaco. However, according to findings of Business Insider Polska’s editorial team, Brussels did not agree to restrictions on the divestment of the Saudi company’s share in the refinery.
“It is not possible to sell the Gdansk Refinery without government approval. The law on the protection of strategic investments for the state is in force, which effectively protects against such an action,” said State Assets Minister Jacek Sasin.
But following revelations about the backdoor dealings that led to the merger brought to light by TVN24 journalists last week, opposition representatives pointed to the numerous irregularities that allegedly occurred in the transfer of some of the refinery’s shares to the Arab company.
“This agreement has not been available to the public, and it seems that it should have. Above all, the Polish public prosecutor’s office, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, should be interested in this agreement,” said Agnieszka Pomarska from the opposition Civic Platform during the press conference.
They also noted surprise that no anti-corruption measures have been taken over the process as it was concluded and despite material appearing in the media that suggests clearly that irregularities took place.
“We are notifying about a substantial suspicion that an offence against the Republic of Poland has been committed, consisting of the fact that persons acting on behalf of PKN Orlen in connection with the concluded agreement on the sale of shares of the Lotos company with the Saudi Aramco company committed the sale with disregard for the regulations on the control of certain investments and other procedural irregularities threatening the interests of the Republic of Poland,” they continued.
PKN Orlen assures that the majority of shares in the Gdansk refinery – 70% – remain in their hands and that company representatives will have a decisive voice in the group’s corporate decision-making.
(Bartosz Sieniawski | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
