US investigates Swiss-registered RosUKrEnergo gas company

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Justice Department is investigating Swiss-registered RosUKrEnergo, a company of murky ownership that supplies Russian and Central Asian natural gas to Ukraine, a newspaper reported.

Sources familiar with the inquiry told the Wall Street Journal that representatives of RosUKrEnergo and of Raiffeisen Investment AG, a subsidiary of Vienna-based Raiffeisen Bank AG that holds 50 percent of RosUkrEnergo's shares for undisclosed owners, met recently with Justice Department officials in Washington.

"They discussed the company's opaque ownership, though further details of what has drawn the attention of US officials remain unclear," the economic daily said.

In a controversial January 4 deal that doubled the price of gas in Ukraine,...