#6014 #6015
#2
Prosecutors Detain Gazprom Execs
January 9, 2002
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
MOSCOW (AP) - Prosecutors tracking down funds allegedly siphoned from Russia's largest company, the Gazprom natural gas monopoly, detained its deputy chief and two top executives from a subsidiary in an apparent Kremlin drive to rein in feisty gas barons.
The move, announced Wednesday, came weeks after President Vladimir Putin rebuked Gazprom over its murky relationship with affiliates and intermediaries. The arrests were seen as a sign of the government's determination to exert control over Gazprom, which alone accounts for about 8 percent of the Russian economy.
Vyacheslav Sheremet, first deputy chief executive of Gazprom and chairman of its Sibur petrochemical subsidiary, was detained Tuesday along with Sibur's chief executive, Yakov Goldovsky, said Leonid Troshin, a spokesman for the prosecutor general's office. Troshin wouldn't name the third executive, but Russian reports identified him as Sibur's Vice President Yevgeny Koshchits.
All three are under investigation for alleged abuse of authority, the prosecutor general's office said in a statement. No charges have been filed.
Sibur refused to comment on the prosecutors' actions.
Gazprom, which owns a majority stake at Sibur, has asked prosecutors to investigate allegations of $85 million in illegal sales through its affiliates, the company said in its own statement.
Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas company, controls a third of the world's gas reserves - worth some $40 billion - and meets a quarter of the European Union's gas demand.
However, its stock is worth only $8 billion. The company is 38 percent state-owned, but its old management has resisted the government's attempts to clear up its dealings with other companies, and investors have remained wary.
Last May, Putin replaced Gazprom's former CEO Rem Vyakhirev with loyalist Alexei Miller in a bid to exert stronger state control over the gas empire, where the old management was accused of diverting cash to their families and friends.
Vyakhirev later was given the largely ceremonial post of Gazprom chairman while Sheremet remained on Gazprom's executive board as first deputy CEO. Troshin wouldn't confirm or deny a report that Vyakhirev was questioned Tuesday on the Sibur case.
A report released by Miller last June contained details on $2.6 billion in loans that Gazprom has guaranteed - some of them to shadowy firms owned by relatives of Vyakhirev and Sheremet.
Russian media reported that Goldovsky had used Sibur to funnel assets out of Gazprom, leaving behind a debt of about $655 million.
Putin raised the Sibur issue at a meeting with Gazprom leadership last November.
``You must pay close attention to the ownership issue,'' he warned. ``If you sit with your mouth open, you will lose not only Sibur, but other companies, too, before you have time to look around.''
Russian media reported that Gazprom wants to cut Sibur's executive board from 17 to nine members and put five of its own representatives on the board, including Bernhard Walter, former chairman of Germany's Dresdner Bank.
In an interview published Wednesday in the daily Vremya Novostei, Walter said he had accepted Gazprom's proposal to become its representative on Sibur's board.
The prosecutors' action came on the eve of a Sibur shareholder meeting that was set for Wednesday but did not take place. Gazprom said the meeting would be held after Sibur's charter is brought to conform with a new law that would make it easier for Gazprom, as owner of 51 percent of Sibur, to replace its chief executive.
Back to the Top Next Article
January 10, 2002:
#6013 #6014 #6015
- Back to the Top -