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Romanian court to resume hearings of LUKOIL petition on August 14

In early July, the office of prosecutions at the Appeals Chamber in Ploiesti issued charges to the corporation’s filial company, Petrotel-LUKOIL, accusing it of money laundering and tax evasion

© AP Photo/Matt Rourke

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Lukoil rejects all allegations of Romanian prosecutors

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. A court in Romania has decided to put off until August 14 the hearings of a petition the Russian oil corporation LUKOIL filed earlier in connection with injunctions targeting it.

The corporation also said that the pretrial measures for a number of its executives were mitigated upon the results of Wednesday court hearings.

At the beginning of last month, the office of prosecutions at the Appeals Chamber in Ploiesti issued charges to the corporation’s filial company, Petrotel-LUKOIL, accusing it of money laundering and tax evasion. Charges were also issued to Lukoil Europe company.

Romanian media said on July 8 LUKOIL’s assets in Romania had been arrested as part of an inquiry into its activity.

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The Romanian prosecution is accusing six top executives Petrotel Director General Andrei Bogdanov, his deputies Alexei Vointsev and Olga Kuzina, Moldovan citizen Andrei Ratta, Deputy Director General Den Danulescu, and Chief Financial Officer Dorel Duti — of inflicting a damage of €1.77 bln on the Romanian state budget.

LUKOIL strongly denies these accusations and says Petrotel provides about a thousand jobs in the region. It also points out the size of the company’s investment in the upgrading of oil refineries, saying it has totaled $540 million over the past nine years.

A number of media said on Wednesday the court of appeals in Ploesti had turned down LUKOIL’s appeal over the money laundering and tax evasion case that targeted Petrotel executives.

LUKOIL said in this connection it planned to continue defending its business reputation with the aid of all legal instruments envisioned by international law and the effective Romanian legislation.

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