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Dalia Pocienė, Chief Prosecutor of the Klaipėda Regional Prosecutor’s Office, and Gina Skersinskytė, Prosecutor of the Klaipėda District Prosecutor’s Office of the Klaipėda Regional Prosecutor’s Office, participated in the press conference remotely.
15 minutes Interview with Gintautas Pangonis, director of Grigeo AB, read here: G. Pangonis a year after the pollution scandal in the Curonian lagoon: “If I am guilty, what punishment will be imposed, I will accept it”
According to D.Pocienė, the investigation has an exceptional scope: 80 thousand. archives, ten terabytes of computer data, thousands of pages of documents. Only IT professionals analyzed the material for half a year.
The main question prosecutors received was: “How much damage was done to nature?” However, G. Skersinskytė, emphasizing that the pre-trial investigation is already nearing the end, did not want to reveal the number. She only said succinctly that the damage was over 1 million. Although a little earlier in the Seimas, D.Pocienė affirmed that it is more than 5 million. euros.
The company also faces a fine, which, according to the prosecutor, could reach up to 5 million. euros.
“Today we will not name it (damage, aut. Past). This is the main subject of the dispute. The company itself hired experts who found that no damage had occurred. We think differently. Our specialists have calculated the damage and it is considerable . It would be fair for the court to rule on the damages, “said the prosecutor.
According to her, it is not possible to assess whether the experts hired by Grigeo Klaipėda were right, stating that no harm was caused to nature. It is said that the court will.
“The study is very broad, considering it covers the company’s eight years of operation. People in the company changed when someone retired. A complex study requires incredibly specific knowledge. These are the biggest challenges here when it comes to determining , in general, what kind of waste can be released into the environment. I must say that such research is extremely interesting and a great challenge for all of us, “said G. Skersinskytė.
The prosecutor simply reiterated the information previously communicated that the complaints had been made against nine people, including a lawyer. The names of the suspects are not mentioned. However, for 15 minutes, among the suspects: former company managers and high-ranking specialists.
At the beginning of last year, after an internal investigation, Grigeo Klaipėda announced that suspicions of contamination were falling on former production manager Jonas Garalis and former CEO Vidas Beržonskis.
Grigeo Klaipėda sued a former employee, J.Garalis, who complained to the court about the circumstances of his dismissal. He was able to prove in court that the dismissal was illegal.
Those responsible for the pollution face up to six years in prison.
The scandal, after a great investigation
A large-scale pollution scandal was uncovered after a painstaking overnight operation that involved officials as well as environmentalists.
It was later clarified that the company’s treatment plants in Dumpiai only treated the effluent mechanically after the production process, that is, only the solids were removed. Without going through the biological treatment plant, the wastewater reached the collector through the pipe used for emergency situations, through which the wastewater already treated by the Klaipėdos Vanduo company flowed. When they mixed up, they reached the Curonian Lagoon. Experts estimate that the company saved more than one million euros in this way, but it also caused damage to nature. Throughout the year, the extent of the damage was not disclosed during the investigation. Independent specialists from abroad were also used for the calculation. Grigeo Klaipeda also hired experts to assess the damage caused by the company. The experts hired by her claim that the damage was not significant.
The pre-trial investigation was initiated by virtue of two articles of the Penal Code: for violation of regulations on environmental protection or use of natural resources or maintenance or use of buildings that contain or store dangerous substances or that contain potentially dangerous equipment or activities, and Documents forgery. These acts are punishable by up to six years in prison. The complaints were made against a total of eight natural persons and one legal entity.
Grigeo Klaipeda: we will compensate the damage
Grigeo Klaipėda company actively means that you will take responsibility for your activities. International experts from TIG Environmetal were recruited to carry out experiments lasting more than a month. Last year, the company presented the findings in the press.
The findings were also sent to the Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Klaipėda Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The press release stated that “the expert report establishes that the impact of nitrogen and phosphorus in Grigeo Klaipėda wastewater on the water quality of the Klaipėda Strait (and the Curonian Lagoon) is likely to be low or negligible, and the The area affected by the concentration of BOD7 in the Curonian lagoon should be limited. The results of the simulation confirmed that the effect of the release of BOD7 substances even in the worst case, modeling that 85%. the company’s effluent could have been discharged without treatment, occurring only in the area near the discharge point ”.
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