Mining Office Withholds Fines for Exceeding Mining Caps, Probe Pending
Date: 03.04.2017 15:32 Author: KVAS Urgency: 4 Category: EN: Economy and finance - eco Mining Office Withholds Fines for Exceeding Mining Caps, Probe Pending
Bratislava, April 3 (TASR) - The Central Mining Office (HBU) might face action over its failure to impose fines on companies that have exceeded mining limits in past years, with the Prosecutor's Office launching a probe into HBU's activities and finding violations of a number of laws in one case, TASR learnt on Monday.
"On February 24, 2017 a prosecutor from Banska Bystrica Regional Prosecutor's Office lodged a complaint against a decision made by the Central Mining Office on August 6, 2015 to terminate proceedings regarding the imposition of a fine on an organisation that held a mining permit for Hradova quarry," TASR was told by Banska Bystrica Regional Prosecutor's Office spokesman Ivan Vozar. "The decision in question violated a number of legal provisions of the Mining Activities and Explosives Act, the Mining Administration Act, the Protection and Use of Mineral Resources Act, the Mining Act and the Administrative Proceedings Act."
The Prosecutor's Office took action based on a complaint from a former HBU mining security department head who was tasked with managing the fine procedures in 2014-15.
According to TASR's information, the company in question declared that it would mine an amount of resources that doesn't warrant an Environmental Impact Assessment. In reality, the company exceeded the limit many times over, thus violating the regulations. Despite these missteps being documented accordingly, HBU chair Peter Kukelcik decided to terminate proceedings, thus sparing the company a fine.
A similar case in which a fine for overstepping mining caps wasn't imposed also emerged at Prievidza District Mining Office, which is currently being investigated by the police over suspicions of misusing the powers of a public official, TASR learnt from Trencin Regional Prosecutor's Office spokesman Marian Sipavy. |