Top Novatek Executive’s Arrest in US Won’t Affect Company’s Operations
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The arrest of Novatek’s Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Mark Gyetvay in the United States will not affect the operations of the gas producer, a company representative told TASS on Friday, adding that no official requests have been received from American officials so far.
"Novatek has not received any official requests or other documents from the US authorities or other countries on Mark Gyetvay. Currently, the company is establishing the circumstances of the incident. The situation does not and will not affect the company’s operations," the company said.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said earlier that Gyetvay had been arrested in Florida. He is accused of concealing ownership of substantial offshore assets for the purpose of tax evasion.
According to the Department of Justice, Gyetvay from 2005 to 2016, "allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by concealing his ownership and control over substantial offshore assets and by failing to file and pay taxes on millions of dollars of income."
The amount of funds he hid from the US government exceeded $93 mln at one point. The DOJ said in its report that Gyetvay in hiding his ownership of foreign accounts and associated assets, he removed himself and made "his then-wife, a Russian citizen, the beneficial owner of the accounts." He is facing up to 20 years in prison.
Gyetvay has been working in Russia since 1995, having become a partner of PwC Global Energy. He began his career in Novatek in 2003. In August 2007 he was elected as a member to the company’s board, since July 2010 he has been deputy chairman of Novatek. Gyetvay was granted Russian citizenship in 2019.
