Press release IREM                        04/08/2022

Explanatory note on the reports on working conditions at the Borealis site in Antwerp.

The correct working conditions are a top priority for IREM who in conducting its business acts in compliance with the Code of Ethics provided by Legislative Decree 231/2001 in line with the indications of the EU to ensure conditions of fairness and transparency.

In safeguarding our position and image we are appreciated on the market by respecting the regulations in force in terms of employment, taxation, and legal discipline.

We hired six hundred Ukrainians, in one of our biggest project in Europe and granted them and their families financial and logistic support when the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out.

What we are learning these days in Belgium from the Press leaves us nothing short of amazed.

IREM firmly rejects any accusation of fraudulent behavior and of trafficking in human beings and reserves itself all rights and actions against such defamatory statements. This is very detrimental and absolutely unacceptable.

What we can say with certainty is instead that our workers of any nationality stay in buildings in good condition and earn much higher amounts than those declared to the press. They have been hired after consultation with our lawyers and they have been all declared within the Belgian authorities (Limosa or Dimona declarations, as appropriate). Their salary has been fixed in accordance with Belgian law.

We therefore reiterate that we are very astonished of what we learnt from the press and we are investigating what exactly happened.

The company is cooperating fully with the authorities to clarify the matter.

IREM is a company with a long industrial history. IREM has successfully carried out mechanical work in the construction of large industrial plants in more than 20 countries on four continents with more than 40 years of activity behind them.

We have been active in Belgium for more than 15 years and we have never experienced a situation like this that we perceive as almost surrealist and which is for us unacceptable.