July 12 (SeeNews) - Croatia's anti-corruption prosecution office, Uskok, launched a probe into the resale of natural gas by state-owned power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP), local media reported citing unofficial information.
On Tuesday morning, Uskok investigators entered HEP’s offices and seized documents, following media reports last week that it used to resell natural gas surpluses at very low prices, state TV broadcaster HRT reported on Tuesday evening.
HEP has declined comment as the probe is secret, HRT added.
By the time this story was published, Uskok had not issued any statement regarding a probe at HEP.
Last week, Croatia's government revoked a decision obliging oil and gas group INA [ZSE:INA] to sell its entire domestic natural gas output to HEP.
According to media reports quoting a member of parliament, HEP was losing 500,000 euro per day by purchasing natural gas from INA at a regulated price of 47.60 euro per megawatt hour, only to resell it later through the Croatian Energy Market Operator at lower prices.
In September, the government requested from INA to sell all of its domestically produced gas to HEP at a fixed price, standing at 41 euro ($45.4) per megawatt hour back then, in order to secure gas supply to the domestic market amidst a surge in global energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
($ = 0.902 euro)
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