Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) criticized the Ministers of the Treasure who in the years 2000-05 consolidated and privatized the energy sector. Two cases will be viewed by the prosecutor’s office.
NIK estimated that the Ministers of the Treasure operating in the years 2000-05 (there were eight of them) acted “with no purpose or against the targets of the energy law and the documents accepted by the government, approving of solutions which were not good for energy buyers and did not support the competition”, the document reads. According to Jacek Jezierski, NIK deputy CEO, the consolidation of energy distributors was against the energy law and increased their monopolies. NIK did not comment on the present plans of the government to further consolidate the sector but said only that the results of the control should be a hint for the government.
NIK disapproved of the social agreements in the energy sector reached during the consolidation. In the opinion of the Chamber, the payments to the employees (including bonuses in the merged companies) amount to PLN 300m (EUR 77.7m). The guarantees to keep the employment on certain levels made the restructuring very hard and expensive.
Moreover, the Chamber accuses the former Ministers of the Treasure for giving up the control over the companies while selling minority stakes (Polaniec power plant, Bialystok and Zielona Gora power and heat plants). The most serious allegations concern the privatization of Bialystok heat and power plant and Skawina power plant. NIK said that because the Minister of the Treasure agreed to sell the newly issued shares acquired by U.S. PSEG at a lower price, the treasure lost PLN 51.5m. In Bialystok, where SNET was the buyer, the treasure lost PLN 27m. Both cases have been sent to the prosecutor’s office.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.259)