“This company, which was established by Orlen on the one hand, and by a private entity on the other, will be audited by Orlen’s new authorities selected in a competition,” said the head of MAP on Tuesday evening on Polsat News, when asked about the continuation of the project to build small nuclear reactors by new management of the Płock concern.
Neither Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki nor Jarosław Kaczyński “did anything to even look into these allegations”
This concerns the Orlen Synthos Green Energy company, in which Orlen and the private chemical concern Synthos, owned by Michał Sołowow, have half of the shares. It was established to carry out the construction of small nuclear power plants (Small Modular Reactors – SMR) in Poland.
Borys Budka added that he was unable to understand why, despite the warnings of the services, neither Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki nor Jarosław Kaczyński “did anything to even look into these allegations.”
In his opinion, an “exceptionally shocking” matter was that “during the transition period of the 14-day government of Mateusz Morawiecki, the minister, who was there for 14 days, who had previously worked for, among others, one of the companies involved in this project, issued a “December 7, a decision that allows the location of six power plants of this type.” “She issued this decision despite the objections of the Polish services, supervised by Mariusz Kamiński,” he added.
On December 7, 2023, the then Minister of Climate and Environment, Anna Łukaszewska-Trzeciakowska, issued six basic decisions in total for the construction of 24 reactors using the BWRX-300 technology, which were requested by OSGE special purpose vehicles. The decisions concern the locations in: Ostrołęka, Włocławek, Stawy Monowskie, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Nowa Huta and Stalowa Wola. In the process of obtaining the main decision, the opinion of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) is necessary. According to later media reports, the ABW’s opinion on the OSGE projects was negative.
In turn, according to OSGE, the technology implementation process was conducted transparently from the beginning, which is why the company submitted an application to declassify the justification for the ABW opinion and to allow the company access to the files. These requests were rejected, and OSGE announced in December that it would seek declassification in court. So that everyone has the opportunity to read information about the basis on which ABW issued its opinions – the company noted then.
OSGE submitted applications for basic decisions on April 27, 2023. In accordance with the law, the basic decision issued by the minister responsible for energy at an early stage of the investment process is a confirmation that the investment in a nuclear energy facility is consistent with the public interest and the policy implemented by the state, in including energy.
You should not “build by force, without adequate protection of the state’s interest”
When asked whether the ABW opinion was binding on the minister, Budka said that the services were there to “protect those in power against unfavorable decisions.” “I cannot imagine, as the Minister of State Assets – seeing such a serious document – which clearly talks about the failure to protect the interests of the state, to forcefully issue decisions. Moreover, the minister issued this decision in conditions that violate the basic principles of conducting this type of thing, because The information, which is also available in the media, shows that no one wanted to help in making this decision, after such a shocking opinion of the services,” he added.
The minister emphasized that it is necessary to distinguish between the issue of building small nuclear reactors, which, as Budka noted, are needed, and “whether to build them by force, without adequate protection of the state’s interest.” “If someone creates a fictitious government for 14 days and this fictitious minister issues a most non-fictitious decision, a very serious concern arises as to what the reasons for issuing this decision could have been. The services under Mr. Kamiński, under the rule of the deputy prime minister for security, warned and this is not one document,” said the head of MAP
Borys Budka added that the former head of Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, received over PLN 50,000 for serving on the supervisory board of Orlen Synthos Green Energy. zloty.
Last week, the president of OSGE, Rafał Kasprów, said that it would be a bad thing if Orlen withdrew from the SMR construction project, although the project could continue without the company.
During Tuesday’s Cabinet Council with the President, Prime Minister Donald Tusk emphasized that the services have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the company that was established and which is to implement the so-called program small reactors, was constructed to the detriment of the interests of the Polish state. “I managed to explain what the negative opinion of our secret services was (…) The services have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the company that was established and which is to implement a very ambitious program of the so-called small reactors was constructed to the detriment of the interests of the state Polish,” said the Prime Minister.
He added that he prepared the information for the president based on reports from the Internal Security Agency and the Central Anticorruption Bureau before the current government took power before the elections on October 15.
author: Michał Boroń
