The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Financial Investigation Service on March 17 searched 16 offices of the Regional Gas Company, which is reportedly controlled by tycoon Dmytro Firtash.
According to both agencies, the searches are related to a criminal scheme regarding the manipulation of gas distribution prices that caused Hr 3.5 billion in losses to the state.
The company's press service informed online newspaper Economic Pravda that searches included offices in Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Zakarpattia, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.
Employees were removed from the workplace and their phones and personal belongings were also confiscated.
"The Regional Gas Company considers the searches, which were accompanied by flagrant violations of human rights, to exert pressure on employees of critical infrastructure enterprises," the press service said, as quoted by Economic Pravda.
Firtash has lived in Austria since 2014.
He has been fighting extradition attempts from the U.S. since 2014, where he is charged with corruption. He lost his most recent appeal in March 2022 and his lawyers continue to attempt to delay the process.
