The authorities suspect the Zaporizhia regional governor, Konstantin Bril, helped Agrinol management to win favorable oil supply contracts with the ministry by influencing the formal offer.

This Thursday operatives of the Ministry for Internal Affairs handed us a search warrant and started to sift through the companys tender documentation looking for clues regarding the supplied oil, a company official who asked not to be identified told Lube Report. Our rigid quality control performed in Agrinols top-notch lab guarantees all of the lubricants coming out of the manufacturing line are of superior quality.

The official called the governments accusations politically motivated and part of a persistent information war against the companys head. This serves some Zaporizhia politicians that look with envy at the successes of Agrinol, the official said.

Agrinol, one of the largest lubricant and grease producers in Ukraine, also manufactures coolants, along with metal drums and plastic packaging. The company has capacity to produce 30,000 tons of greases and 50,000 tons of lubricants annually. It is controlled by a board of directors led by Alexander Ponomarev, a longtime Zaporizhia region deputy in Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.

In the past, the company was the target of many seizure attempts. Raids were organized by local power groups in conjunction with the security services in order to take over Agrinol.

Many observers consider Ukraine a country with pervasive corruption and a biased judicial system. The general atmosphere of distrust and animosity stems from Russian interference in Ukrainian internal affairs, and the Moscow-backed armed conflict in the eastern part of the country. The three-year old conflict negatively impacted the countrys economy, bringing down the standard of living for average Ukrainian.