A subsidiary of China's leading oil refiner Sinopec (600028.SH) in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, has been accused of refusing to pay more than 80 million yuan (US$12.62 million) in sewage treatment charges.
Sinopec Nanjing Chemical Industries Co Ltd is in arrears for sewage treatment charges for four years. Despite final call notices from authorities, it still refused to pay, citing financial difficulties, an unnamed official with the water authority said yesterday.
The Nanjing water supply and conservation office has posted 10 tweets on Weibo.com microblogging website urging the company to pay up.
Nanjing water authority officials visited the company dozens of times, along with local finance department staff, but Nanjing Chemical Industries has publicly remained silent.
In its tweets, the water authority said the chemical plant didn't pay sewage bills in 2006 and from 2009 to 2011. It posted photocopies of the final demand notices issued to the company.
It is also reported that Nanjing Chemical Industries has turned in a report to the Nanjing municipal government, hoping to settle the dispute as soon as possible.
In earlier media reports, the company claimed that it had serious financial problems.
It invested huge sums of money to renovate its water supply system. The chemical plant has its own water source and supplies water to the factory and areas where its employees live.
The sewage charge has reached more than 80 million yuan, while Nanjing Chemical Industries has only collected water bills revenue of 43.68 million yuan in the past five years.
But the water authority said on Weibo that all companies are obliged to pay for sewage treatment and that no excuses would be tolerated.
At odds with the chemical plant's apparent financial plight when it comes to settling utility bills, parent company Sinopec has been exposed as having lavishly spent public funds.
In 2009, the firm splashed out 1.6 million yuan on a chandelier to decorate an office building.
And last September, its Guangdong branch spent 2.59 million yuan on hundreds of bottles of fine wine and liquor, including Kweichow Moutai and Chateau Lafite Rothschild.
Source:shanghaidaily