The government will not renew its contract with Andriy Kobolyev, the head of state-owned natural gas and oil monopoly Naftogaz of Ukraine, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on March 6, with Kobolyev firing back that Groysman’s decision was illegal.
During the regular weekly cabinet meeting Groysman said the contract with Kobolyev expires on March 22, and the government plans to launch a 30-day competition to hire the next head, starting March 23.
But hours later Kobolyev called journalists into Naftogaz’s headquarters to tell them that the government had exceeded its powers and that only the company’s supervisory board has the authority to appoint a new head.
“The main influence of the shareholder – the government – is appointing a professional supervisory board which will manage (Naftogaz),” Kobolyev said, stating that the supervisory board wanted to renew his contract.
According to Kobolyev, the main motivation for the government’s decision was its desire for different “points of confrontation.”
Kobolyev was referring to a conflict that arose when his salary and bonuses became public. In May, the company’s top management paid themselves $46 million in bonuses after winning a $2.6-billion case against Russian energy giant Gazprom. Kobolev’s salary of Hr 2 million ($74,000) a month also came in for criticism.
After the scandal erupted, Kobolyev promised to transfer his salary to charity, but stated that he won’t transfer his $7.9-million bonus, which had been paid into his mother’s U.S. bank account. In October, in an interview with the LB.ua news website, he stated that he had done so to protect the money in case his assets were arrested in Ukraine.
During the press conference, Kobolyev said his salary and bonuses are decided by the company’s supervisory board. In February, the supervisory board offered him a three-year contract extension through January 2022.
He said that he was not planning to leave his job and will forward the issue to his lawyers, after which he will be able to decide on his next moves.
