Orlen’s president, Daniel Obajtek, said on Thursday on Radio ZET that the company’s supervisory board would meet on Thursday. “I have made myself available to the supervisory board and the supervisory board will make a decision today,” he said. Asked whether putting himself at the disposal of the board means resigning, Obajtek said: “There will be a decision today, because it is a joint-stock company and I can only communicate through investor relations and information that is sensitive. I can only say that I made myself available,” he emphasized.
“This is a matter of honor and decisions will be made today,” he added. In response to the question whether this meant that he would be dismissed or resign, he stressed that “all options are in play.”
In response to the comment that three months have passed since the elections and that he has not implemented his declaration of resignation, Orlen’s president said that he is a “responsible man”.
“Orlen is not a little pit where you can dust off your jacket and leave at any time. (…) I am responsible for closing the year, the budget, and ending investment issues,” he emphasized. “We, as Orlen, convened the extraordinary general meeting on February 6 this year.” – added.
He admitted that he could not imagine being the president of Orlen after February 6 this year.
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Płock (Masovian Voivodeship) has initiated an investigation into the merger of Orlen with Grupa Lotos. This includes: on suspicion of abuse of powers and failure to fulfill duties by members of Orlen’s management board and other persons, causing damage of not less than PLN 4 billion.
The spokeswoman of the Płock District Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutor Iwona Śmigielska-Kowalska, informed PAP on Tuesday that the investigation into the merger of Orlen (then PKN Orlen) with Grupa Lotos in 2022 was initiated after the notifications were submitted.
“An investigation was initiated into the abuse of powers and failure to fulfill duties by members of the management board of PKN Orlen, as well as other persons dealing with the property matters of this company, in connection with conducting negotiations, setting conditions and signing agreements regarding the merger of PKN Orlen with Grupa Lotos in Gdańsk, and then signing agreements related to the sale of shares to Saudi Aramco, which caused significant damage to PKN Orlen in the amount of no less than PLN 4 billion,” explained prosecutor Śmigielska-Kowalska.
“We are not afraid of these issues because the entire process was carried out properly. 23 Polish and international institutions worked on this process, there are valuations. Part of the refinery (the Gdańsk refinery – PAP), I emphasize, was sold at the market price, we have analyzes on this scope,” Obajtek explained on Tuesday.
“If you want to comment on this topic at all, you need to know all the documents, you need to see these contracts, you need to analyze these contracts thoroughly in order to speak in this way,” Obajtek noted. “The prosecutor’s office is there to investigate, we have nothing to hide,” he added then.
The Orlen Group is a multi-energy concern that owns, among others: refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. He also manages the petrochemical segment and the hydrocarbon mining segment. At the same time, it is developing the segment of renewable energy sources and plans to develop safe nuclear energy – by 2030 it intends to launch at least one small SMR nuclear reactor.
Last year, the Orlen Group’s strategy until 2030 was updated, taking into account its priority goals, especially after the merger with the Energa Group, Lotos Group and PGNiG. According to this document, the company is to invest over PLN 320 billion by the end of the decade. A conference on the implementation of this strategy is scheduled for Tuesday.
