A customer's missing change of 8 kopecks led to the closure of approximately 20 BRSM-Nafta gas stations. A fragment of the corresponding decision by a district court was published on the company's website, 112-Ukraine reports.
According to Alexander Krasnovsky, Deputy General Director and Head of the Bel Oil Gas Station Network, prosecutors have been raiding BRSM-Nafta gas stations for the past three days with these court rulings, conducting searches and seizing documents, and leaving the stores in their wake. "We believe these inspections are part of a classic corporate raid. A dynamically developing network of 135 gas stations with a good price-quality ratio is a tasty morsel for competitors. Apparently, it was they who inspired the court hearings on Saturday and the issuing of operational decisions under trumped-up pretexts—from an 8 kopeck shortfall in change to the fire hazard of the gas stations, which firefighters have had no complaints about for 10 years, as well as product quality," Krasnovsky says.
According to him, customers have no concerns about the quality of the fuel. "We sell fuel from the Mozyr Oil Refinery (Belarus), as well as from Ukrainian producers. If we had low-quality fuel, you wouldn't see such queues at our gas stations. Low-quality fuel is found in places where people don't have a single car at the pump. And our gas stations are constantly full," notes the BRSM-Nafta representative.
The far-fetched nature of the quality claims is confirmed by the absence of negative expert opinions in the relevant court decisions, which the prosecutor's office is using to try to close the chain's gas stations. Currently, the chain operates with 3,5 employees who fear losing their jobs due to the corporate raid.
The workforce has already appealed to the President, Prime Minister, and Prosecutor General to intervene in the current situation regarding the illegal takeover of the gas station chain. "We intend to defend our rights by legally challenging the court decisions and the actions of the prosecutor's office. Furthermore, we will publicize the attempted corporate raid on our chain as much as possible. Their reluctance to appear on camera or answer questions from the press confirms that the actions of law enforcement agencies may be illegal. This means they have something to hide," says Krasnovsky.
The company is confident that the attempted corporate takeover of the chain is only the beginning of a larger campaign to monopolize the petroleum products market, which will lead to higher fuel prices, and therefore, to higher prices for most goods in the retail chain. "This will further impact the wallets of ordinary citizens, already devastated by the financial crisis and the hryvnia devaluation," concluded the deputy general director of Bel Oil LLC.
Prosecutor's Truth
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