Romania’s third largest refinery Petrotel-Lukoil, controlled by Russian group Lukoil, prepares to resume production, after prosecutors decided to lift the seizure on the company’s accounts and inventories, the company announced on Tuesday, October 7.

Lukoil’s Petrotel refinery, which is also one of the top 10 companies in Romania in terms of turnover, has been in the middle of a large scandal in the last five days, after Romanian prosecutors raided the company’s headquarter in Ploiesti to search for evidence in a tax evasion and money laundering case. The company is investigated for allegedly having damaged the state budget by EUR 230 million.

The prosecutors decided to seize the company’s accounts as well as inventories worth some EUR 235 million, as an insuring measure for the state during the investigation. This determined the company to stop production.

The employees’ union in the company sent a letter to Prime Minister Victor Ponta late last week, asking him for support so that the company can continue its activity. In the letter, Petrotel’s employees also ask Ponta to help unlock the company’s accounts so that it can pay its 2,500 employees and continue to buy raw materials and pay its suppliers to resume its activity.

The Russian embassy also sent a strong message saying that it will “closely follow the situation around the Petrotel – Lukoil refinery”, and hinting that this scandal could further strain the already tense relations between Romania and Russia. “I hope that the investigation will be conducted in an impartial and objective way, in accordance with the law, taking due regard of the interests both of business and Romanian workers as well as of the interests of Russian-Romanian relations,” said Oleg Malginov, Russia’s ambassador to Romania.

Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that the prosecutors who investigate this case are free to take what decisions they consider necessary, and that the Government can’t interfere with the investigation. However, he commented on the inventory seizure, saying no one would have run from the country with Lukoil’s oil pipes and that a solution should be found so that the company can pay its employees. He also said that this case has no political connotation, although Lukoil is a Russian company.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com