Naftogaz's independent directors to quit because of government meddling, lack of reform

"Today the remaining two independent members of Naftogaz's supervisory board have informed the company about their decision to resign. Independent Supervisory Board Members Paul Warwick and Marcus Richards explained their decision by the government's lack of commitment to duly implement the corporate governance reform," the company's press service said on Tuesday, September 19.

"Increasing political meddling becoming increasingly evident and, unfortunately, the norm. Essentially, no material change has occurred over the last five months despite the assurances we received to the contrary," said Paul Warwick, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, in his letter.

Read alsoNaftogaz confirms Kovaliv leaves post of Supervisory Board chairpersonAccording to him, the independent Supervisory Board members made it very clear to the Government in April 2017 that their continuing involvement in this critical reform project was contingent on material progress. Despite assurances from senior politicians, deadlines have passed and commitments have not been delivered with an environment of government control, not envisaged in the Corporate Governance Action Plan.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Marcus Richards, Paul Warwick and Charles Proctor were appointed independent members of Naftogaz's supervisory board in 2016. The Ukrainian government added Yuliya Kovaliv and ex-energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn as their representatives to the board.

In the middle of April 2017, Kovaliv, who chaired the supervisory board, resigned. Warwick was tapped to head the board then.

Early in September, Proctor announced his plans to resign.