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Mark Gyetvay
Photo: Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS
US authorities have arrested a top manager of the Russian gas company Novatek.
According to the Reuters news agency, this is Mark Gyetvay, who is responsible for the finances at Novatek.
He is charged with alleged tax offenses related to $ 93 million (click here for the Reuters report).
The Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday that the money was hidden in offshore accounts.
Gyetvay has both American and Russian citizenship.
According to the indictment, Gyetvay allegedly evaded taxes from 2005 to 2016.
Gyetvay has been Deputy Head of Novatek since 2010.
The company is considered the most important non-state gas producer in Russia.
The company is nevertheless close to the Kremlin: Oligarch Leonid Michelson is the boss and owner.
He belongs to a group of Russian billionaires whose rise is closely linked to the Putin system.
Michelson's close business partners in the past included the oligarchs Gennady Timchenko, who according to the Russian media are said to be close to Vladimir Putin, and Kirill Shamalov, until his divorce Putin's son-in-law.
According to the US authorities, Gyetvay allegedly went to considerable lengths over the years "to conceal his property and control over foreign accounts and related assets by removing himself from the country and serving his then-wife, a Russian citizen." the beneficial owner of the accounts «, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The company said it had not received any inquiries or information in the case from the US authorities.
The circumstances of the case are currently being investigated.
The arrest, however, "has no influence on the company's activities and will not have this in the future either."
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