Polish shipbuilder doesn't agree with corruption allegation

Photo: Eero Vabamägi

The Polish shipbuilder Remontowa Shipbuilding does not agree with the suspicion filed by prosecutors in Estonia that two members of their management have given a bribe to former managers of the Estonian state owned company Port of Tallinn to win a tender to build ferries for routes connecting the mainland and Estonia's big western islands.

«Remontowa Shipbuilding does not agree with the accusations of the Estonian authorities. Remontowa Shipbuilding won the 2014 tender to build two ferries for Port of Tallinn. The company won the tender in a competition with other well-known European shipbuilders. The victory of Remontowa Shipbuilding is a deserved victory,» Maria Bninska, spokesperson for the shipbuilder, told BNS, adding that the builder was on schedule to complete the ferries on time.

Bninska said that following the accusations Remontowa Shipbuilding hired an Ernst & Young (EY) team of auditors specializing in fraud and corruption cases, which is one of the best such teams in Poland and all of Eastern Europe.

«The auditors found no materials that would corroborate the suspicion,» she said.

The spokesperson said the company was open to cooperation with both Polish and Estonian authorities.

The Estonian Prosecutor General's Office has filed suspicions against two managers of a Polish shipbuilding company as part of the corruption investigation relating to the state owned company Port of Tallinn, spokespeople for the chief prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

«Two people in management positions with the Polish shipbuilding company have been declared suspects in bribe-giving on a large scale. At the end of October employees of a Polish law enforcement agency questioned the men as suspects at the request of the Estonian Prosecutor General's Office, an official of the Estonian Internal Security Service was present during the conduct of procedural acts,» Public Prosecutor Laura Feldmanis told BNS.