"Damir Skugor's behavior in gas trading at Croatia's Ina oil company were totally unacceptable, and we are grateful to Croatia's authorities for uncovering the scam," Hungarian oil company Mol said in a statement on Thursday commenting on the 1 billion kuna (€133 million) illegal gas trade scandal.

“MOL Group underlines that INA is on a good track. The period since the public takeover of INA in 2008 is a success, as INA has grown from a company on the brink of bankruptcy at the time to reassuring financial stability at present. We are proud of our results, such as consolidating Petrokemija, the formerly state-owned petrochemicals company and realizing the largest-scale industrial investment in the history of Croatia by the construction of the delayed cooking unit (DCU) at Rijeka Refinery.”

“INA achieved this in a time when there were two International arbitrations between the shareholders and against the Chairman and CEO of MOL Group a criminal procedure was conducted which impartiality was questioned many times Internationally.”

“However we find totally unacceptable what Damir Skugor did in the gas trading business in INA. As a shareholder of INA we are thankful for the Croatian authorities to uncover his violations and wrongdoings early. We fully support INA Supervisory Boards’s proposal to conclude a thorough and strict investigation. We are sure that based on the findings of the investigation INA is going to identify the ones who can be held accountable for this violation of internal procedures and regulations of the company. When the investigation has reached a conclusion, there will be consequences. At the same time our aim remains the same supporting INA to continue its business activities successfully.”