Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd (Virgin Islands) refutes Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko's statement about the engagement of Cabinet officials in company's activity, a Vanco Prykerchenska Board member Maksym Tymchenko told a press conference.

"None of the officials of either former or current Cabinet of Ministers, or their relatives, are company's shareholders. This is an official statement in response to the questions about corruption", he said.

Negotiations between the Cabinet of Ministers on arbitration against Ukraine have not started yet, Vanco Prykerchenska Board of Directors Chairman Gene Van Dyke declared.

At the same time, he noted that the company was holding a dialogue with the government about the conflict with the Black Sea shelf exploration. "The matter concerns the dialogue rather than negotiations. We want to explain our stance and answer all the questions", he said.

On June 5, company representatives met with Raisa Bohatyreva, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

On Friday, June 6, the Interdepartmental Commission formed by President Viktor Yuschenko was to discuss the settlement of conflict with Vanco International, Gene Van Dyke said.

In his turn, Tymchenko, a project investors' representative at the press-conference, stressed on the lack of issues to be negotiated between Vanco Prykerchenska and the government.

"We think there are no issues for negotiations. We are prepared to answer all the questions, and clear up all misunderstandings", he said.

Tymchenko also hold the post of the Director General of the Donbas Fuel and Energy Company (Donetsk), one of the investors in the project of Prykerch shelf exploration. Other investors are Vanco Energy Company (USA), Integrum Technologies Ltd, a subsidiary of the Austrian Infest Fund IK AG), and Shadowlight Investments Ltd owed by Russian businessman Yevgeniy Novitskiy As Ukrainian News reported, on May 29 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that businessman Dmytro Firtash and other Ukrainian senior officials linked with Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd (Virgin Islands).

On May 21, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to break the product-sharing agreement with Vanco International Ltd because the latter had ceded all rights and commitments to Vanco Prykerchenska.

On May 30, the National Security and Defense Council recommended Yuschenko to oblige the Cabinet of Ministers and renew the product sharing agreement with Vanco International.

However, Yuschenko did not repeal the Cabinet's regulation under which Ukraine withdrew unilaterally from the agreement, but put into effect the NSDC decision.

Vanco International, a subsidiary of Vanco Energy Company (USA), was declared a winner of the competition for developing the Prykerch block on the Black Sea's continental shelf in April 2006; the product sharing agreement was signed on October 19, 2007.