The Chair of the Naftogaz Supervisory Board Clare Spottiswoode initiated the resignation of the Head of the company's Executive Board Yuriy Vitrenko after the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) declared that his appointment was illegal.
According to the declaration, that is at the disposal of the agency Interfax-Ukraine, to do this Spottiswoode convened an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board.
"I believe that suspension is in the interest of Naftogaz and of Ukraine to ensure that we keep to the highest standards of good corporate governance," the statement says.
According to Spottiswoode, after the NACP had obliged the Cabinet of Ministers to cancel the decision on the appointing Vitrenko as Head of Naftogaz, she discussed the situation with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska.
"The Prime Minister of Ukraine undertook to make a final decision, including resolving the issue of terminating the contract with Vitrenko as expected, within 10 working days from June 15, 2021," she writes.
At the same time, Vitrenko himself did not want to voluntarily suspend performing his duties for this period and did not hold appropriate consultations with members of the Executive Board or Supervisory Board about his decision to appeal against the directive of the National Agency.
Context. On the eve, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention announced that Vitrenko had been illegally appointed to the post of Head of Naftogaz. According to the Head of the Agency, Oleksandr Novikov, the appointment of Vitrenko violated the law "On the prevention of corruption." However, the official himself does not agree with this and intends to go to court.
Recall that on April 28, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to dismiss Andriy Kobolev, who had been managing Naftogaz since 2015. After that, the company was headed by Acting Minister of Energy Yuriy Vitrenko.
Kobolev stated that he had found out about his dismissal from the media, and repeatedly hinted at the illegality of the actions of the Cabinet. Naftogaz itself called the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers "legal manipulation"—in order to fire Kobolev, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed the Supervisory Board of Naftogaz for two days. The US and the G7 sharply criticized Kobolev's dismissal and hinted at political meddling in the work of Naftogaz.
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