Economy minister Radu Miruţă (USR) announced on October 18, after the conclusions of the report of the prime minister’s control body regarding the disaster at Praid salt mine, which was flooded earlier this year, that he asked the Salrom management to resign but they refused, he asked for a meeting and they refused again, and thus he had to take action in court.
The situation is quite relevant for the resistance faced by the government in reforming state-owned companies: the management refuses to observe the law, and the courts are on strike protesting the government’s attempt to curtail magistrates’ retirement rights.
The minister emphasized that “patience has a limit” and that he is already working on a solution, so that common sense finally becomes a fact, Digi24 reported.
“The control body of the Ministry of Economy is working on a report from which partial data are already available: neglect, bad faith, and lack of responsibility, not only in Praid, but also in other regions. We asked the Salrom management to resign with honor. They refused. We asked to convene a meeting for dismissal, according to the law. They refused. We took them to court for the obligation to convene the general shareholder meeting that the ministry, as the majority shareholder, requested. But, while the justice system is on strike, we need patience,” Miruţă said.
The prime minister’s control body has completed the checks at Salrom and Apele Române, which were carried out following the flooding of the salt pan this summer. The conclusions showed that the risk of flooding of underground spaces was underestimated and consistently considered not to be an imminent danger by Salrom.
Moreover, the checks concluded that the measures taken previously were small, without interventions that would prevent a flood, and the annual exploitation programs were formally approved, without being based on clear rules.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Codrin Unici)
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