Zoltan Bakonyi ARRESTED Over Danube Pollution In Hungary

One of the things I learned this summer is that if I were to walk across the street and destroy the local Starbucks with sledgehammers and Molotov cocktails, I would probably be arrested, charged, arraigned, put on trial, and jailed. On the other hand, if I destroyed, say, the entire Gulf Coast region, officials would have to "work with you" and make all sorts of compromises. So, it pays to think big!

It also pays to not be Hungarian, apparently!

The New York Times reports:

[Zoltan Bakonyi, the director of the compnay involved in the sludge spill] will be charged with criminal negligence leading to a public catastrophe, and if convicted could face a sentence of up to 10 years, according to a government spokeswoman.

The Associated Press has a bit more from earlier:

Hungary's prime minister says police have detained the director of the company that owns the metals plant where a reservoir flooded several towns with toxic red sludge.

Speaking Monday in parliament in Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the government must take over direction of MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company, and freeze its assets.

Orban also says the safe restart of production at the alumina plant is in the public interest and is needed to save the jobs of thousands of workers.

At least seven people died and one is missing in the wake of last Monday's red sludge deluge from a 10-hectare storage pool where a byproduct of aluminum production is kept.

What? They've frozen the company's assets and detained its director? Well, I'm sure the Hungarian AmCham will tell us who to vote for to make this all right again!

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Comments

[Norama]

08:21 AM on 10/15/2010

At first I thought Wow he, the Prime Minister has guts, to act so decisively, but after further reading on the history of the offending company, his act seems a little more like a political vendetta. Mal Zrt the company, was at some point partially owned by the former Prime Minister of Hungary Ferenc Gyurcsany. The company has changed hands, sold on and recreated many times among the current owners. However, Ferenc Gyurcsany who is currently in opposition to Viktor Orban the Prime Minister is close to the owners of the troubled alumina company.

[wandern nc]

05:18 PM on 10/14/2010

This problem is obviously further reaching than just this one incident. There are likely hundreds if not thousands of similar sites across the globe that are on the brink of causing another environmental disaster. Companies that received goods from this factory are also the perpetrators here and they need to be held accountable for this catastrophe as well. Manufacturers need to start thinking twice about where they get their goods from, to make sure that their suppliers go above and beyond the necessary precautions to keep more events like this from happening again. I for one would like to know more about the conditions that the finished goods that I buy in the store are being produced in and would be more than happy to pay more for something that isn't going to kill our environment. Any suggestions about how one might go about finding out who this company supplie(d)(s) to?

[gergo zalai]

05:43 AM on 10/13/2010

As a Hungarian, I would like to present you my perspective on these events.
The cause of the tragedy and anything about who is responsible for it is still unknown. There's ongoing investigation but no results so far.
Yet Mr. Orban was pretty sure a week ago that it was caused by human neglience (not natural causes) and hinted strongly that the CEO and the owners are the responsible ones. Although there was no facts backing up this statement, it was pretty popular since the owners and CEO are on the "100 Richest Hungarians" list and as you may guess, the people here are generally hostile towards the rich, so it seemed more like a witch hunt than a proper accusation (and the accused ones belong to the circles of the opposition).
After the PM hinting that the CEO should be held responsible, the police arrested the CEO and PM himself announced it - well, it looked very much as if the police acted on the PM's order - so much for separation of powers. The parliament hurriedly passed a law that's probably uncostitunal (but it's a dire state of emergency, y'know, like in the case of PATRIOT) and that allows the state to take over any company if it finds that necessary. Many people think that all of it is to hand over the ownership of the alu-company to someone in the ruling party's circle.
So, from here, it looks like dirty politics, not utopia.

[wm1066]

12:27 PM on 10/13/2010

Thanks for that perspective, I also heard that the workers and the people in town had complained about safety issues for years to the company AND the local authorities but nothing was done about it.

[elektrobi]

02:39 AM on 10/14/2010

As a Hungarian too, my perspective of this is: The PM and his staff is way so impotent about their real duty, its much more easier to stand in front of cameras and talk about other people's responsibility, and the natural disaster, than actually talking about their job for what they were elected for, like the economy, the tax-reforms, and some other silly stuff, which they dont really care about. They also told that the company will pay ALL the expenses regarding to the accident, BUT the PM also asked the whole nation to give donations to one of his friend's bank's account (= AND they will probably hand over the company -which rules 12% of the european market- to someone they like more. And the opinion of the governement and the PM about complaints? "You wanted to make us do it, you said we're right by voting on us (instead of some other parties which stole millions of dollars from the nation)." So we're deeper than hell. =/
Anyway the river Danube has been never polluted with the red sludge.

[mudshark12]

02:25 AM on 10/13/2010

Zoltan Bakonyi was jailed for his companies negligence and for creating an environmental disaster, Ah, if only I was Hungarian.... This would NEVER happen in America where the richer you are and the badder you screw up something (like the gulf of Mexico) means you will probably get a slap on the wrist but certainly NOT jail time.

[carolina919]

10:37 PM on 10/12/2010

Makes you wonder how government de-regulation sounds to all those Tea Party/Republicans now....I know, let's take a "listening tour" to talk with folks along the Danube...just watch your step and, of course, bring your own filtered tap water in non-disposable bottles.

[GreenAmbition]

09:05 PM on 10/12/2010

USA coal mining industry could take a page from this. Hundredes of safety violations go unfixed. Regulations are skirted or never enforced. People getting killed and not being properly compensated for loss to property and life. All this in the name of saving a business that "creates jobs".

A company that's doing more harm than good is not a societal asset that should be pandered to. It's a cancer that needs an antidote.

[carolina919]

10:38 PM on 10/12/2010

Yeah, you'd think with all of this talk about corporate "personhood" their ought to be at least a little bit of "personal responsibility" to go with it....that's what our friends on the right are so big on, isn't it?

[busterbrownthefirst]

05:54 PM on 10/12/2010

I love the intro to this article. In my next life I do intend to come back as the CEO of BP.

[csalat]

02:49 PM on 10/12/2010

http://www.blikk.hu/data/cikk/2/3/9/58/cikk_2030958/bakonyi.jpg

[magiart1]

11:17 AM on 10/12/2010

To know when wrong is done seems a simple thing to Hungary.

We here are muddle-headed about assigning blame only when the wealthy do wrong.

Yet it is a simple matter of seeing clearly into consequences of abrogation of responsibility - no matter who commits a crime.

If I take a pan full of dirty oil and dump it into a storm drain I am doing wrong and should be punished for it accordingly..

If fuel extraction corporations negligently destroy environments and kill people they are WRONG and their 'responsible' heads should be punished accordingly...after all SCOTUS didn't have to declare these sickenly rich bastards people...but since they declared an abstract entity in whose name they plunder the public - 'people', then that corporate abstraction 'individual' needs to be punished as well.

Until every 'person', abstract or not, is in fact equal under law - we are doomed to a denialist and dismal destiny of self-destruction.

[Heavhauler]

05:13 PM on 10/12/2010

Faved for alliteration.

[sabelmouse]

07:38 AM on 10/12/2010

i had a feeling that this was coming when i saw the president on tv. he was so indignant about this.
let's hope it goes through to the end.

it's like hungary is on another planet though.

[carolina919]

10:41 PM on 10/12/2010

On the other hand, however, where was the President and government of Hungary before "the deluge"? Seems there might be a bit of civic "responsibility" for letting things get to this stage too.

[Oilygarch]

07:11 AM on 10/12/2010

I guess there is no parallel with the BP Oil Spill, is there?

[busterbrownthefirst]

05:56 PM on 10/12/2010

Obviously, no. The guy in Hungary got in trouble.

[thatsNotWhatIHeard]

07:30 PM on 10/12/2010

But i bet he wants his old life back! ;)

[Attila Demko]

06:07 AM on 10/12/2010

1. Hungary is not a "new country", it was founded in 895 and became a Christian kingdom in 1000.
2. Soviet occupation forced Socialism upon the country after 1947 until 1990 - 43 years.
3. The owners of the company got it from the state at a bargain price, and they were obliged to clean up the mess - which was obviously not successful. They kept the water at ph 13, not ph 10 - which is far less dangerous, for having a higher profit.
4. There are reports, that they knew that there is a problem with the dam. That is why the CEO was arrested.

The investigation is ongoing, but if number 4 is true, the guy is rightfully in big trouble.

[VanDiego]

11:28 AM on 10/12/2010

You are one of the few to actually add factual information to the comments. It helps.

Hungary is "new" in that it is trying to overcome the problems of soviet socialism and is trying to make a market economy.

Thanks for the info. the more facts that come out the better we can understand the situation. Most of the comments (not yours) are seat-of-the-pants nonsensical comments design to be funny or to be insulting.

Sounds like this guy needed to be arrested.

[szlevi]

02:20 PM on 10/12/2010

1. Khm, unless during the past decade they have revised this old topic (settled about a millennia ago) Hungary was still officially founded in 896 (at least when I left it). ;)
2. Bagging hardcore Stalinism (1949-1956) and hard/soft proto-Commie regimes (1957-1968, 1968-1981, 1982-1989) together is pretty silly especially under the title "Socialism" - I think it's well-established that though Commie regimes love to call themselves Socialists they are, in fact NOT Socialist but single-party, autocratic (proto-)Commies.
3. They are actually the same people who used to manage this conglomerate when it was state-owned, aren't they?
4. You bet they knew - it's cost/risk mitigation, nothing more. They made their bets and they have lost it - it's time to pay, period. FYI the arrested CEO is the son of the majority owner, ranked around 20-30-ish on the top 100 of richest Hungarians if I remember correctly... didn't the old man have all the connections to higher-echelons of the (post-Commie) Socialist Party's moguls (hence the sweet deal)...?

BTW following yesterday's re-nationalization the old man announced he's retiring from his position, held at another chemical company, effective immediately... Commie billionaires can get scared too, I guess. ;)

[peegan]

04:54 AM on 10/12/2010

Miss Manners would be appalled. Proper etiquette dictates that when a large company does historic environmental damage to a natural resource, the acceptable course of conduct is for the government to apologise. Emily Post concurs.

[busterbrownthefirst]

05:52 PM on 10/12/2010

Technically, it's perfectly appropriate for either political party to apologize to the corporation. As per the example set by the Republicans apologizing to BP. I know this is nit-picking, but I have a lot of respect for Ms. Manners and the highest regard for only the most polite (and politic!) discourse.

[GreenAmbition]

08:54 PM on 10/12/2010

That was the reponse from many GOP to BP. (Sharron Angle, Mitch McConnell, Joe Barton). It was a "shakedown" to make BP pay for damages in the gulf. FAVED!

[SionShankel]

04:38 AM on 10/12/2010

It is so amazing ...arrested...what a novel idea for someone who causes more damage than Al Queda to a nation...what genius came up with such a new and simple way to hold a person accountable for great wrongs on nation!

[playon]

02:20 AM on 10/12/2010

All the corporate criminals in this country can rest assured that will never happen in America.

[ttaz4dqm]

03:04 AM on 10/12/2010

Yep! Bought and paid for. F&F'd!