A Naftogaz spokesman said that the security service personnel, some of whom were armed, demanded to be shown all the original documentation concerning the January 19 gas deal between Naftogaz and Russian gas giant Gazprom.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), whose activities are overseen by President Viktor Yushchenko, said earlier Wednesday that it had conducted the raid as part of a criminal investigation into Naftogaz's activities, and had seized the documents as evidence into allegations that the company had illegally acquired 6.3 billion cubic meters of gas.
Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyanskiy said the company's accountant had been hospitalized with high blood pressure, adding that despite being in hospital she was still being put under pressure by security officers.
"She was questioned for five hours yesterday and was only released in the evening. Today, when armed people burst into her room, she suffered a hypertensive crisis," he said.
Gazprom said Wednesday it hoped the SBU investigation would not affect payments for Russian gas supplies.
"We are concerned over the situation related to the Ukrainian security service's search conducted today at Naftogaz's central office. We hope these events will not affect the full and timely fulfillment of Ukraine's Naftogaz's commitments to pay for February deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine," Gazprom said in a statement.
Zemlyanskiy said the raid and seizure of Naftogaz documents should not affect company payments to Gazprom for Russian gas received in February; Naftogaz is due to pay some $400 million by March 7.
"We will make every effort to pay on time. Everything is ready for this. We will transfer the funds if we are allowed to," he said.
A Kiev court ruled that the criminal case against Naftogaz, launched by the Ukrainian Security Service, was illegal, an MP said on Wednesday.
Serhiy Vlasenko, a member of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc, said that as soon as the SBU has been made aware of the ruling, they will have to cease all their investigative activities.
Parliamentary speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn, is to request that the country's Prosecutor General's office consider the legality of the SBU's actions after customs official Taras Shepitko, who dealt with Russian gas supplies, was detained by security agents on Tuesday. Lytvyn's request received the backing of Ukraine's parliament.
Gazprom suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine on January 1 over non-payments and the two sides' failure to reach a new gas deal. A week later, Gazprom accused Ukraine of stealing gas intended for EU consumers and cut off gas deliveries to the European Union via the country, prompting two weeks of major gas shortages across much of Eastern Europe.
The standoff was resolved after negotiations between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko ended in the signing of a new gas agreement on January 19.
