Olechnowicz about Orlen's PLN 1.6 billion loss: “a certain sound barrier was broken here”

Agata Adamek asked Paweł Olechnowicz, former president of Lotos, on TVN24 whether he could imagine that during his time the management board would establish cooperation with someone like Samer A., ​​who headed Orlen Trading Switzerland. He was probably associated with the terrorist organization Hezbollah, but it is certain that the Orlen daughter company he managed lost PLN 1.6 billion on oil trading. Olechnowicz is outraged by such a high promotion of a man whose biography has been kept secret.

Olechnowicz about OTS: the president is responsible for his decisions

– Can I imagine? No, I don't even try. There are certain rules for running a company and managing a company and a business. What is most important when we talk about business is not what results from it, i.e. profit and good functioning in the end, but people and the way they are selected. You must not exceed a certain barrier, and here a certain sound barrier was exceeded – replied Olechnowicz.

He admitted that the president has the right to employ people he trusts, even if he is dissuaded from this idea. – But then he is responsible for it. And there must be full awareness of this, but today there is no responsibility, he said.

A tape scandal inspired by Russia?

The journalist also asked Olechnowicz to comment on the words of Donald Tusk, who recently said that the tape scandal, which strengthened Law and Justice and could have led to his victory in the 2015 elections, was inspired by Russia. As a result, coal imports from the East to Poland increased significantly.

– I think the Prime Minister knows more than me. However, when I see heaps of coal dust from far abroad in Polish warehouses, I can say this: regardless of the type and severity of the winter, we will not run out of coal and it will be warm. However, earlier there was plenty of coal and it came from the East, from Russia. What was the reason for this, what were the interests, how to qualify it: was it just business impurity and an element of business corruption or any political corruption… appropriate services are responsible for analyzing it and determining why it happened – he replied.

Did the services warn Daniel Obajtek? Samer A. responded to the allegations.

Samer A., ​​a businessman from Lebanon, was asked about the case by RMF FM a few weeks ago.

– I have never received any charges against me from the prosecutor's office. What the press publishes is politically motivated, he told the station. He also argued that before starting cooperation with Orlen, he also worked for other global giants, and the internal services of these companies verified him positively. This was also supposed to be the case with the Polish fuel company.

– Like everyone else, I applied to the concern, and I was verified by the Orlen security office. Now they claim that they prepared a note, but it is not true, he said.