Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) after considering an application filed by MP Viktoria Voitsytska (Samopomich faction) on May 11 launched a pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (neglect of official duty where it caused any significant damage to the state interests) on May 20.
“Number of the criminal case is 42016000000001293 dated May 20, 2016,” Voitsytska wrote on her Facebook page posting a copy of response of Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stoliarchuk.
She said that she accuses Kobolev of neglecting his duties to return public joint-stock company Ukrnafta under state control, reshuffle its management and prevent growth of the company’s tax debt for the past year from Hr 5.11 billion to Hr 10.6 billion.
In turn, Naftogaz Ukrainy Head Andriy Kobolev denied these accusations. He said that he managed to return Ukrnafta under state control, reshuffle managers and pay dividends. The delay in the issues was mainly linked to the shareholder agreement with Ihor Kolomoisky’s Privat Group and the necessity of sticking to legislation to avoid failures in courts.
Kobolev on May 12 said that there were many attempts to intimidate him by opening criminal cases against him and his team.
“In 2014, they intimidated us with criminal cases for Gazprom, in 2015 – for reverse [gas purchases] and this year – for non-understanding politics,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on May 11 raided the head office of Naftogaz’s subsidiary – public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia located in Kyiv.
