The Valea Jiului Energy Complex Company must move on, so that honest miners can continue to benefit from a salary, and Romania can benefit from a safe and constant source of energy in the assumed calendar, says the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja.

The clarifications of the official from Energy come after the checks carried out at the mining company by a team of the Directorate of Internal Services – Inspection Service within the Ministry of Energy.

“I have repeatedly drawn the attention of the management of the Valea Jiului Energy Complex Company that, along with the granting of a significant amount from the budget as state aid, comes a great responsibility in the management of government public funds. I made myself available – publicly – the phone number, on the occasion of the visits to Valea Jiului, requesting the miners to notify me directly of any illegal or non-compliant aspects. From the first day of the search carried out by DIICOT Hunedoara, I ordered the dispatch of the control body which found things that do not honor the profession of miner. I think that society must move on, so that honest miners can continue to benefit from a bread and Romania can benefit from a safe and constant source of energy. Both I and my colleagues in the ministry are offering everything the competition with the criminal prosecution bodies, in order to find out the truth and to bring to criminal responsibility, in an exemplary manner, the responsible persons. Romania needs professionals in state companies, even more so in a sector faced with the challenges of energy transition policies,” Sebastian Burduja said.

According to a press release of the relevant ministry, sent to Agerpres on Friday, between July 8-12, 2024, an inspection team from the Directorate of Internal Services, the Inspection Service, a control body at the level of the Ministry of Energy, carried out a specific mission at the level of the Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului S.A. Company.

The action aimed at verifying the manner in which the recruitment/hiring/promotion of staff was carried out, the attendance/time attendance of employees (including CIM suspensions, medical leaves), respectively other staff rights.

One of the conclusions refers to the fact that in the staff recruitment/selection activity, the need to intervene on the procedural documents resulted, in order to complete them in order to increase the level of transparency and accuracy of the selection process.

Also, with regard to staff promotion, it emerged the need to complete the procedural documents with concrete provisions consisting of algorithms/stages of professional development based on criteria of competence/studies/experience in the specialty.

Regarding the suspension of employment relationships, the result was that there are employees who requested the suspension of the Individual Employment Contract (CIM), usually annually and especially during the summer, to solve some personal problems.

At the same time, in the case of medical leaves, certain employees have benefited or are benefiting from frequent medical leaves, for different diagnoses. “It is also noted that, in some cases, the suspension of the CIM represents an alternative to the medical leave superimposed on the planned vacation, in order to travel outside the country, in order to obtain additional income”, the statement states.

According to the cited source, in the chapter on time-outs, increments and other rights that the company’s employees benefit from, following the preliminary checks, suspicions regarding the commission of crimes resulted, which will lead to the transmission of the inspection report to the Public Ministry, in order to capitalize on the findings and conclusions from its content and the criminal prosecution regarding the reported facts.

“In consideration of the aspects reported in the local press and as a result of the preliminary checks carried out in connection with the activity of 09.07.2024 of an employee of PRESTSERV Petroşani, the inspection team proposed to the Board of Directors of SCEVJ SA/General Director, the initiation of the procedure of disciplinary research”, notes the Ministry of Energy.

Following the resulting conclusions, measures were ordered for the specialized structures of the Ministry of Energy, as well as the Board of Directors of the Valea Jiului Energy Complex SA Company, taking into account the ongoing criminal investigations.