Blair appeals to Ukraine for fair play for victimised UK firm

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has personally appealed to the Ukrainian government on behalf of a UK-based exploration firm who claims it is being victimised and harassed by Kiev. It has now emerged that Blair wrote to Leonid Kuchma, president of Ukraine, to express his concern at how the Ukrainian State Property Fund attempted to expropriate the assets of a JKX Oil and Gas.
And in what Downing Street sources described as being a strongly worded letter, the Ukrainians were warned they risked becoming an international pariah state unless the rule of law was upheld. JKX owns 49 % of Poltava Petroleum Company (PPC), a Ukrainian gas producer, through its subsidiary, JP Kenny Exploration and Production.

It alleges that the State Property Fund, the owner of a 25 % stake in PPC, attempted last month to expel JPK from the company and give its interests to Naftogaztechnologia, a private Ukrainian group. Paul Davies, JKX CEO, believes a group of influential Ukrainian politicians are behind the attempts to seize the company's assets. Private investigators working for Davies have traced the ownership of Naftogaztechnologia to a chain of offshore holding companies registered in Austria, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Channel Islands, Israel and Georgia.