Its Facebook page says in Romania, the company built the longest streetcar line in Cluj-Napoca, connecting Piata Garii Manastur and Bd. Muncii, as well as the Vintu de Sus and Simeria-Curtici- Arad railroad sections, a RON1.3 billion investment, on which Swietelsky worked together with France’s Alstom, Italy’s Astaldi and Romanian-held Euro Construct Trading 98 and Dafora.
Swietelsky Baugesellschaft is the Bucharest subsidiary of the Austrian company by the same name. The Finance Ministry data show at least four more companies with Swietelsky in their name, all of which operating under NACE used for construction of various types – residential, non-residential, railroad.
The company officials did not return ZF’s calls for comment on the projects Swietelsky has in Romania or the number of employees.
Can a company report revenue in its filings with the Finance Ministry but actually have no employees?
“The explanation for there being no employees reported is using staffing firms to lease personnel. If the company that makes the personnel available was involved in a governmental tender, everything is legal,” says Iancu Guda, services director of consultant Coface Romania.
There may also be companies part of a group, so some people may be employed for one company while working for another, he added.
Swietelsky group has built roads, railroads and bridges in several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, among which Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Poland, but there is no information about its projects in Romania.
Another construction company showing up in Finance Ministry’s records as having no employees in 2011-2015 is the Bucharest subsidiary of another Austrian construction group, Strabag, one of the largest builders in Romania. It posted RON273.2 million revenue and RON2 million profit in 2015, according to the latest data available.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)