Fourteen people at K+S AG, including CEO Norbert Steiner and other members of the management board, are reported on March 4 to have been charged with illegally disposing of saline waste water and polluting waters. It is understood the former CEO and two former public officials were also been charged. The charges have been brought by prosecutors in the town of Meiningen in Germany’s Thuringia state, according to Bloomberg, which broke the news.
The charges relate to the injection of waste water into the Gerstungen trough between 1999 and 2007. It is understood K+S officials and local authorities are accused of colluding to illegally produce licenses for the disposals.
In a statement March 3 before the prosecutors’ announcement, K+S said it remains convinced that it lawfully obtained the permit for the injection of saline waste water into the Gerstungen trough for the years in question. The permit relates to the Werra plant, which comprises the Unterbreizbach, Hattorf, and Wintershall sites. The company says that a continuing audit by an external law firm on its behalf in recent months has revealed “no evidence of criminal conduct.” In its statement, K+S added that against this background, it sees no need to implement any precautionary financial measures, including in the form of provisions.
K+S has said previously that it was cooperating fully with the investigators. Thuringia state prosecutors searched the company offices in September following long-standing complaints from environmental groups about the producer’s wastewater being disposed of into the Werra river (GM Sept. 11, 2015). K+S declined to comment further on the proceedings.