Exact 3,317 meters – that’s the distance between the former chemical plant “Verachim” on the Romanian bank of the Danube and the ideal center of Ruse. Today, the site of the closed enterprise, which shut down in 1991, lies abandoned, but this is about to change. The news that an incinerator for medical waste might be built there has revived the nightmare for residents on both sides of the river, recalling memories of sulfur smells, sleepless nights, and high mortality rates from respiratory diseases. It turns out that behind this idea are two young but wealthy boys, aged 22 and 27. Who is the investing company for the incinerator, and have the health threats to people in Ruse been disregarded? “For the Truth” sought the answers.
Suspiciously rich for their age, or who is behind Friendly Waste Romania
The company that wants to invest in the construction of a medical waste incinerator was founded in 2019 with a capital of 200 lei (about 450 leva) by two Romanian citizens – Bratu Eugen and Mohamed Fadel, born in Lebanon. Since its establishment, the company has operated at a loss. Just in the last year, this amounted to 1.9 million lei. As of 2022, Friendly Waste Romania has total debts exceeding 9.4 million lei, including to the Romanian state budget. Currently, the company employs only five people, according to data from the Romanian Trade Registry.
In 2016, the Romanian publication Ziarul Financiar reported on then-22-year-old Mohamed Fadel, who had recently built two five-story blocks and 56 apartments in Bucharest with an investment of 4.4 million euros. In the interview, he emphasized that “this is not family money, but mine.” “At 18, I established my construction company, and the money I earned from it I invested in the Mojo Design Apartments project,” he added. Records show that this construction firm, founded in 2015, has hundreds of thousands of lei in debts.
Unanswered questions
At the beginning of this year, a change in ownership occurred at Friendly Waste Romania. Bratu Eugen transferred his shares to Neamet-Dana Fadel, born in 2001, for a total of 400,000 euros, which the new partner is to pay in two installments – 250,000 at the time of the transaction and another 150,000 provided that by April 15, 2023, Friendly Waste Romania receives an environmental permit for the incinerator. This is clarified in the records of the Romanian Trade Registry. However, the company has yet to receive this permit, as confirmed by the Romanian Ministry of Ecology in response to an inquiry from “For the Truth.”
Thus, it turns out that behind the investment interest in the site of the former chemical plant near the Romanian city of Giurgiu are two young boys, aged 22 and 27, about whom there is no information indicating previous experience with the incineration of biological waste. Written questions were also sent to Friendly Waste Romania, but no response had been received by the time of publication.
A few publications in various Romanian online media from mid-month, however, reveal that behind the incinerator project stands another “important person.”
The state that the wife of Mohamad Fadel, Olivia Ardelean Fadel, graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, after which she obtained a master’s degree from the University of Political Science and Public Administration in the Romanian capital. Olivia Fadel briefly worked for the National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices in Romania before becoming an advisor in the office of former Romanian Minister of Transport Răzvan Cuc, claim two regional publications in Giurgiu – Jurnal Giurgiuvean and GiurgiuPeSurse. According to them, Cuc is currently a member of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, and Olivia Fadel is an advisor to Social Democrat MP Steliuța-Gustița Chetaniciu, coordinator of the parliamentary commission for investigating abuses, corruption, and petitions.
In the wake of a missed notification
For the first time, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters (MOEW) learned about the intention of Friendly Waste Romania to build an incinerator in March 2022. At that time, the Romanian Ministry of Ecology sent an invitation to Bulgaria to participate in the assessment of the project’s impact on the environment (EIA). The authorities in Bulgaria were also requested to send information within one month regarding potential damage to nature. However, none of this happened.
TheEW did not respond to two subsequent letters from the Romanian authorities – on May 5 and May 16, 2022. This is evident from the correspondence of the Romanian Ministry of Ecology dated August 8, 2023, in which they give Bulgaria a final opportunity to participate in the environmental assessment of the project and provide an opinion on whether it supports or opposes the construction of the facility.
Between March and May 2022, the government led by Kiril Petkov was in power, with Borislav Sandov as the Minister of Environment and Waters.
“A from Romania regarding this project has definitely not reached my desk for resolution, so any claims of my inaction are unfounded,” Sandov wrote on his Facebook profile. According to him, the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context does not specify a specific deadline for tacit consent that may have been missed, and he adds that “if there was any delay in the response from the MOEW, it did not create conditions for Bulgaria’s opinion to be ignored.”
After last chance given by Romania in August this year, the MOEW finally responded and published the investment intention of Friendly Waste Romania on its website. A request has been made for Bulgaria to participate in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure, as stated in the ministry’s press release. They also require additional information related to air quality protection.
Meanwhile residents on both sides of the Danube River organized protests and petitions against the construction of the incinerator. The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters (RIOEW) in Ruse also issued a negative opinion on the project proposal.
Earlier this week, at a meeting, the governor of Ruse, Danail Kovachev, and the mayor of Giurgiu, Adrian Anghelescu, reaffirmed their shared position against the construction of the incinerator. According to Anghelescu, the only way for the project to be realized is if the location of the facility is changed so that it does not threaten the health of the populations on both sides of the Danube River.
The from the Romanian Trade Registry is published with the assistance of our partners from the investigative platform Context.
