By KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine instructed to amend the charter of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy in order to cancel the instructions of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) that the appointment of persons, who recently were members of the government, to the management of the company violates the law on prevention of corruption.
The instruction was enshrined in government resolution No. 1233 dated November 3, 2022, the text of which was published on the government portal.
The current version of the charter states that the company is an entrepreneurial company – a legal entity of private law. In the new edition of the words "private law" will be removed.
In a recent letter to the Prime Minister, the NACP said that Naftogaz Ukrainy is groundlessly a legal entity of private law, since the company is actually endowed with the ability to exercise public administration. Therefore, Naftogaz is a legal entity of public law and is unreasonably not classified as such in its charter.
"If, in accordance with the practice of the ECtHR and the laws of Ukraine, the status of a company as a legal entity of public law is determined in the charter, the restriction provided for by Clause 1, Part 1, Article 26 of the law of Ukraine on prevention of corruption will not apply to the company and members of the Cabinet of Ministers," the NACP said.
As reported, over the years, the NACP ordered the government to cancel its decisions on the appointment of Yuriy Vitrenko and Oleksiy Chernyshov as the head of the board of Naftogaz, who entered the company from ministerial positions.
The law on prevention of corruption prohibits civil servants within one year from the date of termination of the relevant activities entering into employment agreements with legal entities in respect of which the state has exercised powers on control, supervision, preparation or decisions-making.
