Russians probe TNK-BP on hiring practices

Moscow -- Investigations into joint Russian-British energy giant TNK-BP has extended to human resources practices related to foreign employees, sources in Moscow said.

In the newest action in a growing list of government interventions, prosecutors spent two hours questioning the oil giant's vice president of human resources Clark Cridland, who arrived at the Presnensky District Prosecutors Office with a company lawyer and a translator, the Moscow Times reported Tuesday.

The interventions are feared to be a government effort to pressure TNK-BP to sell out to Russian energy giants Gazprom or Rosneft, the Times reported.
In March, 148 of TNK-BP's foreign employees were suspended because of visa problems.

In the most recent probe, prosecutors' concerns revolved around trade union complaints that TNK-BP was favoring foreign specialists at the expense of Russian workers, the Times said.

The allegations could lead to a fine or a mandate for the company to change its hiring practices, the Times reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.