President Basescu takes on Lukoil: State should take over refinery if production doesn’t start by Friday

President Traian Basescu got involved in the tax evasion scandal at the Lukoil Refinery on Thursday, cataloging the pressure coming from the Russian company as “inadmissible”.

Furthermore, the president of Romania asked the Government to take over the Petrotel refinery in Ploiesti if production doesn’t restart on Friday.

“Their approach is inadmissible and if tomorrow they decide not to pick up production then I ask the Government to be ready to take over the refinery in Ploiesti because that is bigger than the company”, according to Basescu.

He also said that the State should be prepared to pay the price that Lukoil paid for the refinery.

“When Lukoil’s crimes will be established, we can put side by side the fraudulent grains with the sums that Lukoil invested in this refinery”.

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The president reacted to declarations made by Lukoil Marketing and Refining vicepresident Vladimir Nekrasov on Wednesday. The Lukoil official said that he reached an agreement with the Romanian prosecutors and by Friday the group’s management will decide if Petrotel will be closed down or not.

“We believe the accusations are unwarranted. The people who are found guilty of these acts will be punished and from that point of view, we support the investigation wholeheartedly”, according to Nekrasov.