September 16 (SeeNews) - Croatian oil and gas group INA [ZSE:INA] said on Friday that the two representatives of its largest shareholder, Hungarian energy company MOL, on the management board have resigned amidst an ongoing corruption probe in INA.
Ferenc Horvath and Jozsef Simola both stepped down from INA's management board ”despite engaging in no way whatsoever in the wrongful practices around INA that surfaced in late August,” INA said in a filing to the Zagreb bourse.
Horvath and Simola will continue performing their duties as INA management board members until the appointment of their successors in order to secure the continuity of the company’s operation, it added.
Croatia's anti-corruption prosecution office, Uskok, said in late August it launched an investigation of five individuals and a local company suspected of reselling natural gas belonging to INA, with damages for INA estimated at 1.046 billion kuna ($139 million/140 million euro). The five individuals are suspected of selling INA's natural gas to the suspected company at prices significantly below market levels between June 2020 and August 27, 2022 in order to then resell the gas to a foreign buyer at market prices.
Uskok does not disclose the names of the suspects until indictments are raised. According to local media reports, the main suspects are Damir Skugor, head of INA’s natural gas retail department, and Josip Surjak, head of Croatia’s national bar association, as well as local company OMS-Ulaganje. All five suspected individuals were arrested and some of them will be detained in custody for a month.
On September 7, INA's Hungarian CEO Sandor Fasimon also resigned.
On September 9, Croatia's government said it will suggest to the supervisory board of INA to dismiss the three Croatian members of the management board. The economy minister Davor Filipovic has said that all management board members of INA have to resign due to the corruption scandal.
Croatia's government said on Wednesday that it decided to urge INA to boost its domestic natural gas production by 10% and sell all of it to state-owned power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda.
MOL is the largest shareholder in INA with a 49.08% stake, followed by the Croatian government with 44.84%.
INA's shares traded flat on at 3,380 kuna on the Zagreb Stock Exchange intraday on Friday.
($=7.521 kuna)
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