Gazprom to change its auditor

On May 6, the Board of Gazprom is supposed to announce a new candidate for auditing the major Russian gas producer in 2002. Minority shareholders don't want Gazprom's previous auditor - PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit - to win in the tender. In their opinion, the audit company was cheating in the interests of previous Gazprom officials, when preparing a 2001 financial report. According to the latest reports, the new executive staff of the gas giant and its management team are ready to agree to the proposal of minority shareholders and choose another world popular audit company - Deloitte&Touche - for 2002. Today, the winner in the tender for auditing Gazprom in 2002 will be announced. On April 15, minority shareholders of Gazprom in the name of the Hermitage investment company applied to the Moscow arbitration court to cancel the results of Gazprom's audit in 2001 that was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In their opinion, the 2001 financial report contained false information about financial activities of the gas monopolist and its relations with the Itera gas company, the Izvestia newspaper wrote.

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