MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against Norilsk Mayor Rinat Akhmetchin and charged him with negligence in the wake of the catastrophic diesel oil spill that had erupted from a local power plant’s storage tank, the Investigative Committee’s Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told reporters.
"The Russian Investigative Committee’s Main Investigative Directorate is pressing a criminal negligence charge against Norilsk Mayor Rinat Akhmetchin over his failure to fulfill his duties in an emergency triggered by a spill of oil products amounting to at least 21,100 cubic meters from a diesel fuel storage tank in Norilsk," she said.
"Akhmetchin has been charged with negligence," Petrenko specified.
She explained that the mayor knew about the volume of the fuel spill. However, he did not take any necessary measures to respond to the emergency situation, or deal with its aftermath.
According to the Investigative Committee, the Norilsk mayor failed to organize any coordination of activities of the Civil Defense and Emergencies Directorate of the Norilsk administration and did not ensure the interaction of local government bodies and officials.
In addition, there was no control or monitoring of the environment, the Norilsk mayor failed to foresee the development and consequences of the emergency situation in his municipality.
The article, under which the Norilsk mayor was charged, stipulates penalties ranging from a fine of up to 120,000 rubles ($1,742) to community service.
The disastrous spill of diesel oil into the environment occurred on May 29, after a fuel tank at a heat and power plant in Norilsk owned by the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, part of the Norilsk Nickel Group, collapsed. More than 21,000 cubic meters of fuel flooded an area of 180,000 square meters of soil and water, causing pollution and damage to the environment.