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The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) on August 4 started an investigation against officials of the national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine, according to the Ekonomichna Pravda online newspaper, referring to its source in the PGO.
The source did not specify the names of the suspects, explaining only that they were accused of violating two articles of the Criminal Code, Art. No.172 (gross violation of labor legislation) and Art. No.364 (abuse of power or misuse of office), Ekonomichna Pravda reports.
As part of this proceeding, the Prosecutor General's Office on August 9 demanded a list of documents from Naftogaz.
"In order to clarify circumstances that are relevant for criminal proceedings, we request that the certified copies of Naftogaz's current charter and an entry/exit log at the company headquaters for July 18 and 21, 2017 be provided," reads the PGO's request to Naftogaz, according to Ekonomichna Pravda.
Read alsoHague court starts to consider Naftogaz lawsuit vs Russia on seizure of assets in CrimeaIn addition, the Prosecutor General's Office requested the timesheets for July 18 of Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev, [Director for Administrative Activity and Energy Efficiency] V.V. Shcherbenko, and [Head of Security Department] V.M. Lupaschenko, as well as their job description valid as of July-August 2017.
The proceedings were opened after the August 1 dismissal of Vice-President and Chief Engineer of PJSC Ukrtransgas Ihor Burak.
According to unofficial data, on the dates indicated (July 18 and 21) Burak visited Naftogaz HQ, where he met with Kobolev, Shcherbenko, and Lupaschenko.
"They spoke about his 'voluntary' resignation.' However, Burak did not agree, therefore an internal official investigation was launched [in late July] and he was fired under the [disciplinary] article," an Ukrtransgaz source told Ekonomichna Pravda.
Burak is a member of the team of Ukrtransgaz former president, Ihor Prokopiv (he currently holds the post of Deputy Minister of Energy and Coal Industry), who is the opponent of Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev, the newspaper notes.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the board of the Naftogaz of Ukraine on August 1 fired Chief Engineer of its subsidiary PJSC Ukrtransgas Ihor Burak following an internal investigation.
Read alsoNaftogaz to appoint Polish national as Ukrtransgaz presidentOn August 8, the supervisory board unanimously approved the appointment of Polish national Pawel Jozef Stanczak – Technical Director, Member of the Board in PGNiG Technologie S.A. – as president of Ukraine's state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz.