NOVATEK: the charges against Mark Gyetvay wouldn’t affect the company’s activities

Moscow, September 24 - Neftegaz.RU. Currently Mark Gyetvay, 1^st deputy executive board chairman at NOVATEK, is in the process of court hearing in the US regarding alleged personal tax evasion.
According to the indictment of the U.S. Department of Justice:

• Beginning in 2005, Gyetvay allegedly opened the 1^st of 2 different Swiss bank accounts to hold these assets, which at one point had an aggregate value of over $93 million.
• Over a period of several years, Gyetvay allegedly took steps to conceal his ownership and control over the foreign accounts and associated assets, such as removing himself and making his then-wife, a Russian citizen, the beneficial owner of the accounts
• Despite being a CPA, Gyetvay also allegedly did not timely file his U.S. tax returns
• Further, some of the tax returns he did file are allegedly false
• The indictment also alleges that Gyetvay submitted a false offshore compliance filing with the IRS through the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures in which he attested that his prior failure to file FBARs and tax returns was non-willful

If convicted, 64-years old Gyetvay tfaces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count: 5 years in prison for each failure to file FBAR count, 5 years in prison for tax evasion, 5 years in prison for making a false statement, 3 years in prison for each count of assisting in the preparation of a false tax return and 1 year in prison for each willful failure to file a tax return count.

NOVATEK said in a statement today that it had yet to receive any official notification or requests from the U.S. government on the case.
The company stated:

• We are not involved in the litigation and does not have any details of the court hearings, we monitor the situation and will give all necessary support.
• For many years, Mark Gyetvay is the main representative of NOVATEK for professional and investment community, making invaluable contribution to NOVATEK success.
• The situation has absolutely no effect on NOVATEK’s operational and financial activities.

In 2014, Mark Gyetvay left the Board of Directors of NOVATEK and CFO’s position, and according to the internal NOVATEK’s order, subsequently was not involved in financial activities of the company, including attracting financing.