e-crimea.info
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Main Investigation Department is investigating the embezzlement of $50 million by state-run company Chornomornaftogaz's officials during the purchase of two tugboats in 2011, according to a ruling by Kyiv's Pechersk District Court on granting investigators access to the documentation of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine.
It is reported that the pre-trial investigation has revealed that Chornomornaftogaz's top managers misappropriated public funds when buying two tugboats, Petra Majestic and Petra Admiral, overstating their actual value by $50 million.
According to the investigation, the procurement was carried out with the help of two intermediary companies – Sea Dynasty Ltd. (Odesa city, Ukraine) and Verylux Company LLP (the city of Cardiff, the UK), which received $120 million in state funds from Ukraine's Chornomornaftogaz.
The related financial transactions were carried out in the period from February 1, 2011, to March 31, 2011, according to investigators, during which Naftogaz was transferring funds to its subsidiary Chornomornaftogaz. The funds were later transferred in the account of Verylux Company LLP, which in turn purchased the above mentioned tugs from Sea Dynasty Ltd.
UNIAN memo. Chornomornaftogaz is a subsidiary of Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz. The company was established to develop oil and gas resources in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
The company has licenses for 17 fields, including 11 gas fields, four oil fields and two gas condensate fields. Its total reserves of all fields are estimated at 58.56 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 1.231 million tonnes of natural gas condensate, and 2.53 million tonnes of crude oil.
In March 2014, the Crimean authorities announced that they would nationalize the company, after Chornomornaftogaz' drilling rigs had been seized by armed men.
The Ukrainian Justice Ministry is preparing a package of documents for a lawsuit against the Russian Federation for taking over assets of a major gas producer on the Black Sea shelf – Chornomornaftogaz.