Ex-Naftohaz official held in criminal probe

Ihor Dydenko, former first deputy head of Naftohaz, was being investigated for embezzlement and abuse of office, a SBU spokesman told Reuters.

In January 2009, Dydenko signed on behalf of Naftohaz a key agreement with Russian gas giant Gazprom ending a three-week conflict over prices and conditions which affected Russian gas supplies to households in Western Europe.

The deal was denounced by allies of then opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich who said it allowed too high a price for Russian gas and Dydenko lost his job soon after Yanukovich came to power in February, beating Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko, who says she has since become the victim of "political repression" by her rival, last month said another ally, former customs service chief Anatoly Makarenko, had been detained in a probe into a gas trading scheme.

Tymoshenko said Makarenko was detained as part of an investigation into dealings between her government and RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based company which had acted as an intermediary in gas deals between Gazprom and Naftohaz.

A Swedish arbitration court ruled in June that Naftohaz owes RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic metres of gas that was taken from it last year.

Tymoshenko is herself the target of a 2004 bribery criminal case re-opened in May by the prosecutor's office.