MOL: Report on management of INA “shameful”
Oil-and-gas giant MOL termed “shameful” the report of advisory Oil and Gas Consulting to the government of Croatia on MOL’s management of its Croatia-based subsidiary INA. The report is “shameful”, inaccurate and biased, MOL communications director Dominic Kofner said in a statement published on Tuesday.
Kofner said that the report contains factual errors, notably that INA generates 9.4% of Croatia’s GDP, whereas the MOL unit actually accounts for only between 2% and 3% of the country’s GDP.
Kofner added the fact that former INA manager Jasminko Umicevic is the head of Oil and Gas Consulting brings the impartiality of the company’s report into question. Kofner further noted that MOL is troubled that Croatia’s economic ministry has attempted to tarnish the company’s reputation.
The Croatian daily Jutarnji list reported on Monday that Oil and Gas Consulting had stated in its report that the failure of MOL to keep its promise to invest in INA has cost the unit $6.2 billion. The newspaper said that Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak showed the report to a MOL delegation last week. In responding to a query by MTI directly following the report’s release, a MOL statement maintained that the consulting companies had repeated the “false information” in the report for some time. “The false allegations will never be true even if they are repeated a thousand times,” ran the statement in part.
MOL holds a little less than 50% of INA’s shares, while the state of Croatia owns about 45%. MOL’s perceived lack of investment in INA and the state’s failure to take over INA’s loss-making gas business, as stipulated in a shareholders agreement, have been sources of tension between the two shareholders who conduct talks on possible future arrangements.
-- material from national news service MTI was used in this article
Avg Hourly Pay Rate for Blue-collar Workers Climbs 16% in Q1
Bulgaria's Household Income, Spending Rise 20% in 2023
Job Fair and Career Prep at Corvinus Starts Tomorrow
Spago Budapest Offering Unique Sunday Brunch Experience
SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
