Asset management agency accuses Naftogaz of mismanaging seized Glusco gas station chain

The Asset Recovery and Management Agency decided to check the effectiveness of the management of the Glusco gas station network, which the Cabinet of Ministers handed over to Naftogaz Oil Trading LLC last year, reported the ARMA press service.

"The manager has been using Glusco's assets for more than a year, which are in fact 89 gas stations, eight land plots, two oil depots and corporate rights of 35 companies. At the same time, only UAH 1.151 million ($31,160) have been transferred to the state budget for the entire period, which raises well-founded questions about the efficiency of management," said the head of ARMA Olena Duma.

According to her, the agency has information about the manager's submission of false data regarding expenses and income from management activities.

In addition, the company allegedly does not submit or complete information on almost half of the gas stations received from ARMA, as a result of which the budget falls short of a significant amount of income every month.

The inspection will last until July 31.

According to the terms of the management contract, ARMA has the right to prematurely unilaterally withdraw from the contract in case of improper fulfillment of the specified conditions by the manager.

In March 2023, in an interview with Forbes, the chairman of the board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov said that Glusco gas stations were handed over to Naftogaz exclusively for operational management, which limits the company's investment opportunities.

Despite this, according to him, Naftogaz is already starting to make money from them.

The Glusco network was created on the basis of former Rosneft gas stations, which operated under the brands Formula, TNK, Golden Cheetah, and Smile. In 2016, Rosneft decided to sell them to the Swiss group Proton Energy of businessman Nisan Moiseyev, who was informally associated with Viktor Medvedchuk.

In the spring of 2022, Glusco gas stations were arrested.

In May 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to transfer the property of LLC Glusco Ukraine and LLC Glusco Retail to the management of LLC Naftogaz Oil Trading (order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 385-r of 13.05.2022). This decision was explained by the emergence of an emergency situation in the energy sector, that is, a shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel.

In September 2022, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine began to restore the operation of gas stations of the Glusco network under the U.GO brand.