Bucharest (Romania), Oct 4 (AP) Authorities in Romania have opened a criminal investigation into suspected data leaks against four employees of the local branch of neighbouring Serbia's NIS Petrol, which is majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom Neft.

Organised crime prosecutors said late on Monday that police raided the company's offices in the capital, Bucharest, and the western city of Timisoara, along with the employees' homes, as part of the inquiry.

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No other details were immediately released. The Belgrade-based NIS told The Associated Press in an emailed statement on Tuesday that the company “adheres to the existing legal rules of countries where it conducts business.”

“The company has cooperated and will fully cooperate with all relevant institutions in order to clear all the aspects concerning the activities of the company and its employees in Romania,” NIS said.

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Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, said late on Monday that no Serbian citizens were involved and that “this has nothing to do with us. It's Russia's ownership."

Romanian media reported that the four are citizens of Moldova and high ranking in the Romanian subsidiary of NIS petrol.

Serbia sold the majority stake in its state oil monopoly NIS to Russia's Gazprom Neft in 2008. The Balkan nation still maintains close relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine and has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow.

NIS Petrol in Romania runs Gazprom gas stations in the west of the country and has carried out exploration for new sources of oil.

The Romanian prosecutors said information about geological data had been sent to Belgrade and to Russia before Romanian authorities were informed. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)