Loss of records, unfavorable contracts. The company will contact the prosecutor’s office again

In a press release on Tuesday, Grupa Azoty announced that it had contacted the prosecutor’s office regarding “the suspicion that he committed a crime involving the intentional threat of direct of substantial property damage to the Company of nearly PLN 500,000.

“This is related to irregularities identified as a result of the investigation in the process of concluding amended non-competition agreements in the second half of 2023 after the termination of the working relationship with major supervisors (leaders), with violations of internal rules, marked irregularities. in the Company’s documents and in circumstances recommending action in relation to the financial interest of the interested parties themselves, and to the detriment of the Company. levels of net loss for several quarters,” the company said.

The press release explained that the contracts signed were to guarantee selected workers that they would be paid 100% compensation for six months if the work was terminated. basic salary received before the employment relationship was terminated. The company also announced that Grupa Azoty’s board of directors at the time agreed to terminate the contracts.

– The decision to sign non-competition agreements with selected employees at a time when the Group’s debt level was approaching PLN 10 billion is a sad summary of the interests of the management at the that time The provisions enforced through a non-transparent decision-making process were supposed to guarantee the indefinite nature of these contracts and, as a result, very high compensation for 6 months after terminate the employment relationship. We cannot and will not allow a situation where the management who contributed to bringing Grupa Azoty to its current position receive very high compensation for 6 months after the end of the job. Non-compete agreements have already been terminated to former employees identified in the notice, said Adam Leszkiewicz, president of Grupa Azoty, who was cited in the press release.

The company pointed out that the new contracts concluded in 2023 with selected employees were “inconsistent with the internal provisions and regulations”. These agreements include: extending the non-competition period from 3 to 6 months and reducing contractual penalties for an employee’s breach of the non-competition clause to PLN 5,000. PLN for each violation from the previous amount equal to three times the total salary.

“According to the recommendation of the Board of Directors of Grupa Azoty SA, investigations are underway in the Group regarding the activities of the Group’s companies in recent years. From the fourth quarter of 2022, there was a lack of effective corrective actions, investments made and contracts concluded. As a result of these investigations, Grupa Azoty sent the first notification to the prosecutor’s office, which concerned, among others, the Polish National Foundation, sponsoring and advertising contracts and former President of the Chemik Police Club In the coming weeks, Grupa Azoty will take similar actions in other areas,” said the company.

On Monday, Grupa Azoty Puławy announced that it had submitted a report to the prosecutor’s office on suspicion of wrongdoing. This is about damaging the company in the area of ​​sponsorship and advertising contracts and donation contracts, which allegedly caused damage of more than PLN 5.2 million.

Read more: “The damage amounts to more than PLN 5.2 million” >>>

At the beginning of September, Grupa Azoty SA also contacted the prosecutor’s office in the area of ​​sponsorship agreements and position advertising and violating internal procedures and legal provisions, which were to lead to the creation of property damage in the amount of more than PLN 7.5 million in 2023.

Read also: Grupa Azoty contacted the prosecutor’s office. Money for promotion “for the interests of political groups” >>>

Investigations are currently underway at the Azoty Group, which are related, among other things, to the highest levels of losses recorded in recent years. As a result of the investigation, the first notifications were sent to the prosecutor’s office regarding the Polish National Foundation, non-competition agreements and the former president of the sports club Police Chemik. The company announced more similar measures in the coming days and weeks.

Grupa Azoty is one of the leading capital groups in the fertilizer and chemical industry in Europe. It is second in the EU in the production of nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers, and also has a strong position in the markets of products such as melamine, polyamide, OXO alcohols, plasticizers and white titanium.