Romania indicts Lukoil's Petrotel refinery for money-laundering (updated)
03/08/2015 17:16
* Prosecutors allege money-laundering
* Lukoil has denied charges, will fight asset seizure
* No trial date set yet
(Adds details, background)
BUCHAREST, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on
Monday they have indicted Russia's Petrotel Lukoil LKOH.MM
refinery in Romania, its Russian director-general and three
other officials for money-laundering in a 2 billion euro ($2.19
billion) criminal probe.
Prosecutors have already seized Lukoil assets worth 2
billion euros as part of their investigation into suspected
money-laundering at the refinery, in the southern Romanian city
of Ploiesti.
Russia's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil has denied the
accusations and said it would appeal against the asset seizure.
It also called last month for the European Commission to help it
fight the charges. When contacted by Reuters about the
indictments, a spokesman declined to give any new comment.
No one was available for comment at the refinery on Monday.
Prosecutors from the Ploiesti court of appeals indicted the
director-general of the refinery, as well as two deputy managers
and also a Netherlands-registered holding company, according to
a statement issued on Monday evening.
No trial date has been set as of now. Prosecutors said the
Romanian secret service, known as SRI, assisted them in their
investigation.
"Throughout 2011-2014, the indicted ... have used the
company's assets in bad faith and the credit it enjoys, for a
purpose contrary to its interests, to favour other companies in
which they had a direct or indirect interest to strike crude oil
purchasing contracts," the statement said.
The officials were indicted for "sealing supply deals for
finished goods in disadvantageous price terms which produced
losses as delivery prices were set below production costs."
In October of last year police and customs inspectors raided
the offices of Lukoil near Ploiesti in an investigation into
alleged tax evasion and money laundering concerning an estimated
230 million euros at the time.
($1 = 0.9126 euros)
(Reporting by Radu Marinas; additional reporting by Olesya
Astakhova; editing by Matthias Williams and William Hardy)
((radu.marinas@thomsonreuters.com; +40 21 305 5263; Reuters
Messaging: radu.marinas.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: ROMANIA LUKOIL/