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The board of the national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine has voted to dismiss Ihor Prokopiv, the head of the country's gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz, according to Naftogaz's press service.
"Naftogaz's executive board, with the consent of the supervisory board, has voted for the dismissal of Ukrtransgaz President Ihor Prokopiv," the press service said in a statement.
Naftogaz will soon announce a competition to fill the vacancy.
"Ukrtransgaz president's duties will be temporarily performed by Myroslav Khymko, the first vice-president of Ukrtransgaz," the statement said.
Prokopiv had worked as president at Ukrtransgaz since August 2014.
Read alsoUkraine No.1 in Europe in terms of gas reserves - Naftogaz"Ukrtransgaz continues to ensure secure gas shipments to Ukrainian and European customers," the press service added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the management of Naftogaz and Ukrtransgaz disagreed in the autumn of 2016 over the tender for the construction of compressor stations by Ukrtransgaz in the south of Ukraine. As a result, Naftogaz, the parent holding company, did not agree on related procurements, arguing that such pumping capacities would not be needed in the country's south due to the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline.
In early February 2017, Ukrtransgaz head Prokopiv said in an interview published in the Ukrainian media that Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev proposed a motion to the holding's supervisory board to remove Prokopiv for the period of audits at Ukrtransgaz. Prokopiv claimed the initiative had not been supported by the supervisory board.
On February 10, Kobolev said that the internal audit had revealed suspicious transactions in Ukrtransgaz's system in 2016 to the tune of UAH 1.5 billion, or US$55.7 million.
On February 17, Naftogaz's board, upon agreement with the supervisory board, voted to suspend Prokopiv.