“The merger of Orlen and Lotos was carried out on a model basis, taking into account valuations of professional companies operating on the market. Those responsible for the merger, led by Orlen management, should be commended,” Mateusz Morawiecki, former prime minister and deputy leader of PiS, said at a press conference. This is how the politician answered the question about launching an investigation into this issue.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Płock (Mazovia Voivodeship) has opened an investigation into the merger of Orlen with Grupa Lotos. This includes: on suspicion of abuse of power and failure to fulfill duties by members of the board of directors of Orlen and other persons, causing damage of not less than PLN 4 billion.
When Morawiecki was asked during the press conference about his assessment of the opening of the investigation into this case, he replied that he did not want to comment on the prosecutor’s decision. He added that as a person who has participated in many transactions on the market for twenty years, I can say that this transaction “was and still is very meaningful from the point of view of the Polish economy, but also from the point of view of the position of the shareholders of this merged company.”
The merger was carried out in a model manner, taking into account valuations carried out by professional companies operating on the market, taking into account the recovery conditions proposed by the European Commission
– he said.
According to the former Prime Minister, the people who brought about this merger, led by Orlen management, ‘should be praised for it’.
In July 2023, the Supreme Court of Audit prepared a report on, among other things: merger of Orlen with Lotos after inspection by the Ministry of State Assets. TVN24 journalists found the still unpublished document. According to the Supreme Audit Court, Saudi Aramco paid PLN 7.2 billion less for the Lotos share than it was worth.
In 2022, the Łódź-Śródmieście District Court in Łódź, 20th Commercial Division of the National Court Register, registered the merger of PKN Orlen with Grupa Lotos.
Previously, in January 2022, Orlen presented, in accordance with EC requirements, corrective actions planned in connection with the acquisition of Grupa Lotos. Among other things, it was reported that Hungary’s MOL would take over 417 gas stations from the Lotos Group network in Poland, and that Orlen would buy from MOL 144 gas stations in Hungary and 41 gas stations in Slovakia. The fuel and asphalt logistics area within the Lotos Terminale company will be purchased by Unimot. Lotos Biopaliwa is bought by Rossi Biofuel.
As Orlen reported, the company negotiated for Saudi Aramco to buy 30 percent. shares of the Lotos Group refinery in Gdańsk and concluded a long-term contract for deliveries from PLN 200,000. up to 337 thousand barrels of oil per day, while the target supply volume of Saudi raw materials should reach 20 million tons per year.
Tusk does not want to ‘follow’ Poland
Perhaps the merger between Orlen and Lotos will not require an investigative committee, but rather a prosecutor’s office on the one hand, and a simple, quick audit on the other – Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Tusk asked whether it would be good if, apart from the Public Prosecution Service, the issue of the Orlen-Lotos merger would also be clarified by an investigative committee, he replied:
For me it is not about “finding” Poland. (…) There is probably a lot of NIK material and material arising from the analyzes of the secret services, so perhaps there will be no investigative committee and perhaps the classic actions, i.e. the Public Prosecution Service and disclosure, will be sufficient.
I would really like people to see as much as possible what happened there, not only in Orlen, but also in other companies. Perhaps this does not require an investigative committee, but only the Public Prosecution Service on the one hand and a simple, quick audit on the other.
– added the Prime Minister.
As he said: “Just as audits take place in ministries, these audits in companies will certainly generate a lot of public information, after which it will become clear whether a commission of inquiry is needed or not.”
The question is whether Donald Tusk wants people to see “what happened there,” but really. I also wonder if this will be in line with his intentions.
yes/DAD
Source: wPolityce