KIEV (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office is conducting a search in the offices of the country’s gas giant Naftogaz in Kiev, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s press service told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
“It’s incorrect to comment on the Prosecutor General’s Office’s police actions…we have information that the Prosecutor General’s Office is there,” the press service said in regard to information that Naftogaz was being searched.
No comments have been received from the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office on the event.
Last week, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko urged to abolish Naftogaz, citing massive corruption inside the company. Tymoshenko claimed also that the real gas price tag is much lower than the Ukrainian gas production and transportation companies claim in their contracts.
Naftogaz was involved in a number of other controversial episodes, including a major gas dispute with Russian energy company Gazprom over Kiev’s massive gas debt. In summer 2014, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine opened a criminal case against Naftogaz’ top managers for the alleged embezzlement of over $24.5 million in company funds.
State-owned Naftogaz is Ukraine’s main petrochemical company, producing more than 90 percent of the country’s oil and gas and providing one-tenth of state revenues.
Naftogaz produces around 45 percent of Ukraine’s domestic demand for natural gas, the rest is imported primarily from neighboring Russia.
