Kyiv Prosecutor`s Office has opened a case against Ukraine`s Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk into possible criminal offenses, according to an official statement by the prosecutor`s office, published by MP Viktoria Voytsitska on Facebook.
”Kyiv Prosecutor`s Office has informed me about the opening of criminal proceedings against the Minister of Energy into possible criminal offenses under Part 1 Article 351 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of people`s deputy activities),” Voytsitska said.
She noted that in December 2016, together with MP Mustafa Nayyem, she filed an application in connection with the incomplete and untimely provision of responses to parliamentary appeals regarding the files on the Yuzivske gas field tender.
At the same time, the prosecutors told Voytsitska there were no grounds for reporting the data to the Unified Register of pre-trial investigations. After that, she appealed the prosecutor`s actions in court, which ruled to launch proceedings.
Earlier, Dutch Yuzgas B.V. late in July 2016 won a tender to produce shale gas in the Yuzivska field in eastern Ukraine, replacing Royal Dutch Shell, originally chosen during Viktor Yanukovych`s presidency to operate and develop hydrocarbon deposits in the east of Ukraine.
Early in August 2016, representatives of Yuzgas B.V. said they were ready to invest $200 million in the development of the Yuzivska field in the next five years.
Yuzgas B.V. Director Jaroslav Kinach said his company planned to hire Schlumberger for geological prospecting at the site.
On November 2, 2016, Ukraine`s Cabinet of Ministers did not support an investment program for the development of the Yuzivska shale gas field in the country`s eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, and rejected Yuzgas B.V.`s participation in a production sharing agreement (PSA) under the program.
