The management of Naftogaz awarded itself a gigantic bonus for its victory over Gazprom.
The award in the amount of $45,6 million, which the management of Naftogaz of Ukraine NJSC assigned to itself based on the results of the Stockholm arbitration, will be paid not from the money that can be received as a result of the trial, but from the money that all citizens of Ukraine paid under the new tariffs .
Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management, announced this at a press conference in Kyiv, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“The company cannot be considered absolutely efficient and successful, despite the fact that, according to various estimates, tariffs have increased from 6 to 9 times over the past four years, and all the money that this company records and demonstrates is, by and large, money that has been drawn out from our pockets through increasing the cost of housing and communal services.
The money that will be spent on bonuses is money taken from our pockets. The decision on which this award is based has not fully entered into force, since it has been appealed by Gazprom, and it is now questioning this decision in local courts, the trial has not been completed, not a single penny of this won money has gone to the accounts of Naftogaz or the Ukrainian state not received. Therefore, this is not a bonus from the winnings, it’s just money from the budget, just a bonus from our pockets. This money did not come from Gazprom.
Where did this amount come from? I understand that it’s a fraction of a percent, but the fact is that the Stockholm Arbitration Court made two decisions, one of which Ukraine won, the other one it lost. If you combine debits with credits, you get an amount of 2 billion dollars. Why is it calculated with 4,5? If and when the decision on Ukraine’s loss to Gazprom comes into force, does this mean that this bonus will be deducted? Or how? Because they lost one decision and won the other. Extravagance and the absolute height of cynicism, when we have once again been openly robbed by specific officials of Naftogaz,” he said.
Paying such a huge premium could mean a new increase in tariffs - after all, the company will have to somehow compensate for these “expenses”.
“I see several motivations here: first, they don’t care what we think about them, they don’t depend on us. The main thing for them is to get this money legally. Secondly, we are on the verge of another tariff increase. We are told that gas will increase - they say from 20 to 70%, and all these premiums, no matter how paradoxical it may sound, will become the justification for an increase in tariffs. Because this premium will probably go into the company’s costs, and the company’s efficiency will be calculated from this amount. This will be a motivation to increase tariffs. Well, I do not rule out that this will be a banal form of bribe, that in fact, in this way they decided not just to motivate specific people, but to make them tied to each other, because we are talking about a fairly large number of people, about 50 people. Perhaps this is a form of kickback that will not all go to employees, but to higher offices and will be spent on other purposes,” says Ruslan Bortnik.i
Naftogaz management awarded itself a gigantic bonus for defeating Gazprom.