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Prosecutor General's Office may question current, former heads of Gazprom on Sibur case - Ustinov

MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office plans to question a number of current and former heads of Gazprom in connection with the criminal proceedings against leaders of the Sibur Company.

"We are planning to question a number of current and former heads of Gazprom," Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov replied to an Interfax question on Thursday.

He made it understood that the Sibur heads that were detained on Wednesday might be indicted. "If the investigations have grounds charges will be made," he said.

"The grounds should be weighty enough so that even the court does not have reason to annul our resolution," Ustinov remarked.

On Wednesday the Prosecutor General's Office detained Sibur President Yakov Goldovsky, Chairman of the Sibur Board of Directors and First Deputy Head of Gazprom Vyacheslav Sheremet, and Sibur Vice- President Yevgeny Koshchits.

Criminal proceedings followed an examination done at the request of Gazprom heads, Ustinov said. They requested that the withdrawal of Sibur assets be examined.

Ustinov did not give details about the investigation.

"I do not want to disclose the mechanism of the assets' withdrawal," he said. "There are many ways to drain the assets of this or that company. I think that after the investigation we will show how it is possible to make the hitherto richest company bankrupt."

Charges against the detained must be made within three days from the moment of their arrest, Ustinov said.