Orlen fires people on political appointment. Who was targeted by the purges this time?
In the Orlen Group, around 100 people were laid off in June and early July – according to unofficial information obtained by money.pl. Among them are people associated with the previous government, who held directorial or high management positions.
For several months, the Orlen Group has been undergoing an intensive staff turnover. Since Ireneusz Fąfara became the group’s president, a total of around 550 people have lost their jobs. The layoffs mainly concern people who got their jobs through political nomination and hold high positions. “No one who donated money to PiS will survive” – this is what a journalist from money.pl heard.
Layoffs at Orlen. President Fąfara gets rid of people from the previous government
The service has identified the names of five people in high positions with whom the new management has ended cooperation. The first of them is Kewin Klotzek, the son of PiS MEP Angelika Możdżanowska. Robert Nowicki, former president of Orlen Neptun, which deals with wind farms on the Baltic Sea, is also no longer working at Orlen. Nowicki was known primarily for his close cooperation with former PiS government minister Jadwiga Emilewicz.
Leszek Mańk also had to say goodbye to his position as president of PGNiG BioEvolution. PGNiG BioEvolution is a company responsible for, among other things, searching for and acquiring biogas and biomethane projects and their construction. It is also to develop technologies in this area. It is also involved in the production, trade and use of biogas within PGNiG.
Mańk is the son of Lidia Kochanowicz-Mańk, called “Rydzyk’s accountant”. She is a member of the board of the Lux Veritatis foundation, associated with Father Rydzyk.
According to money.pl, Andrzej Pomarański will no longer be an expert in Lotos’s PR department. In private, as the weekly “Polityka” once described, Pomarański is the life partner of Agnieszka Kamińska – former president of Polish Radio in the years 2020-2023.
The last person whose name money.pl confirmed from its sources is Liliana Wiadrowska, who until recently worked at Orlen Neptun and is associated with the Confederation.
Daniel Obajtek without discharge
The Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Orlen SA was held at the end of June. During the meeting, among other things, the company’s financial statements for the year ended on 31 December 2023 were adopted.
The new Orlen management board did not grant discharge to Daniel Obajtek or any member of the management board who held the position last year. One of the reasons given was the failure to fulfill obligations in the scope of corporate supervision, among others in connection with the activities of the subsidiary Orlen OTS, managing the pricing policy in the period between 1 August and 13 October 2023.
Everything indicates that the head of Orlen will lose financially from this decision in the years 2018-2024. He will not receive a bonus of over a million. This is about the so-called variable part of the remuneration (bonus) due for 2023. It is paid on condition that the member of the management board receives a discharge. We write more about this below.