Trade union leader Corneliu Cernev told the employees that he asked government officials to “end discussions about the plant’s privatization” if the sale contract is not signed Monday.
Protesters said they want the company’s production to be resumed and to be paid their back wages for August and September. Cernev told the employees they will receive their back wages and the company will resume production if the privatization contract.
Last Friday, September 21, politician and TV station owner Dan Diaconescu won a sealed-bid auction for the majority stake in Oltchim, after bidding 203.14 million lei (EUR45 million). The politician outbid Germany’s PCC SE and local businessman Stefan Vuza.
Earlier this week, Diaconescu refused to sign the contract for the purchase of a 54.86% stake in Oltchim, saying the deal he was presented with was different from the one included in the auction documentation. Diaconescu didn’t say when the contract would be signed. According to the privatization calendar, the deal must be signed within 10 days after the auction procedures.
Diaconescu’s refusal stirred a wave of responses from Romanian officials, including Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who said the politician doesn’t have the necessary funds to pay for the shares.
“Once it’s clear that this whole thing was an attempt to cover up old frauds… and the so-called winner of the auction never had the money or the intention to become majority shareholder in Oltchim, the government will approve a set of measures to place the company under special administration,” Ponta told reporters earlier this week.
Oltchim’s privatization is prerequisite for the disbursement of further installments of a EUR3.6 billion loan agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund. (EUR1=RON4.5140)