Russia cuts gas supplies to Romania while investigation hits Lukoil subsidiary
Romanian officials scrambled to assure Romanians there will not be any sort of problems concerning gas supplies over the winter as Russian state giant Gazprom cut exports to Romania by 13 per cent, hours after Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors searched offices at a Lukoil-run refinery in a tax evasion and money laundering investigation.
Authorities in Ploiesti, a city about 70km north of Bucharest, where the refinery is located, say they suspect damages amounting to about 230 million euro, of which 112 million euro are thought to result from tax evasion and the rest from money laundering. Local media said prosecutors questioned Andrey Bogdanov, general manager of the Petrotel refinery, in his office.
Prosecutors confirmed the Romanian home intelligence service SRI joined forces with them in this investigation, but no further details have been released so far.
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