Vitoria (EFE).- The Basque Government denounces Verter Recycling’s non-compliance with the definitive sealing of the Zaldibar landfill in Biscay, which must be carried out by the bankruptcy administration of this company.
On the third anniversary of the landfill collapse, the Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, has appeared to analyze the situation surrounding it.
The collapse occurred on February 6, 2020 and two workers, Joaquín Beltrán and Alberto Sololuze, were buried.
Six months later the remains of Sololuze’s body were found. The search operation for his partner continued without success until May 2021 when he was finally suspended.
The sealing corresponds to the bankruptcy administration
Tapia recalled that the landfill is stabilized and pre-sealed. He has indicated that it is up to the owners of Verter Recycling, in liquidation proceedings, to proceed with the final sealing and post-closure control.
However, the competent authority is the bankruptcy administration, which is the one that “is obliged” to do so “without being able to evade that responsibility.”
He explained that the Basque Government continues to carry out inspections at the landfill, of which it draws up minutes of non-compliance that it forwards to the Prosecutor’s Office.
On the other hand, the Minister recalled that the Basque Government, in a subsidiary manner, adopted measures to minimize environmental damage after the collapse.
They demand 28 million from Verter Recycling
He also assumed the search for the two missing persons, actions that involved a cost of about 28 million euros that the Executive claims from the Verter company.
Before this claim, the company requested the start of the bankruptcy process to proceed with its liquidation and subsequent dissolution, a matter that is being followed in a Bilbao Mercantile Court.
He recalled that Verter’s appeal against the payment of that amount to the Basque Government was dismissed and, once the voluntary payment period had elapsed, it has not been made.
For this reason, the Department of Tapia has requested the Department of Economy and Finance to adopt the measures to enforce this payment and to analyze how to transfer the debt to the managers and administrators of the company.
legal processes
The Minister also pointed out that the Basque Government continues to collaborate with the courts in the open cases related to the collapse.
The judicial procedure for the death of the two workers was closed in September 2021 with an agreement between the Prosecutor’s Office and the defendants, the three responsible for Verter Recycling.
They assumed their responsibility for those deaths by accepting a sentence of six months in prison and indemnifying the families of the deceased, thus avoiding going to jail.
A court in Durango maintains a procedure for alleged crimes against the environment in the management of this landfill.
On February 28, three Environmental technicians from the regional Executive are called to testify on this matter, among others.
Two of them are cited as technicians from the Inspection Service of the Vice-Ministry for the Environment who intervened in the granting of the environmental authorization that allowed the beginning of the exploitation of the landfill.
The third person investigated is cited for his intervention in the “scheduled inspections” at the landfill in 2017. EFE