OREANDA-NEWS. The Prosecutor's Office of Bashkiria approved the charge against the head of the energy and raw materials production and the head of the wastewater treatment plant of JSC «Polyef» in the criminal case of multimillion-dollar damage to nature. This was reported by the press service of the supervisory authority on Monday, May 31.

The defendants are accused of committing a crime under Article 246 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the rules of environmental protection during the operation of industrial facilities by persons responsible for compliance with these rules, if this entailed other serious consequences).

According to the investigation, the accused did not organize a timely inspection and repair of the waste water storage tank. As a result, in October 2019, the storage wall collapsed and industrial waste water fell on the forest area of about 6.4 hectares and the water body. The environment was damaged in the amount of more than 150 million rubles ($2 million), the press service noted. In order to ensure compensation for damage, the property of the organization for this amount was seized.

The criminal case will be sent to the Blagoveshchensk District Court for consideration. As reported, the leak of 8 thousand cubic meters of industrial wastewater at JSC «Polyef» occurred on October 9, 2019. The waste fell on the territory adjacent to the enterprise, no one was injured.

The press service of the company noted that one of the possible reasons for the leak was the hidden design features of the object. «Polyef» is the only producer of terephthalic acid in Russia, 100% owned by SIBUR, and produces terephthalic acid and polyethylene terephthalate — raw materials for the production of food packaging.