World Business

MOSCOW —

Watch original video:

The American boss of Anglo-American oil venture TNK-BP won’t have to appear for questioning Monday, after Moscow city prosecutors overturned a decision to summon Chief Executive Robert Dudley conducive to inquiries about alleged labor law violations.

City prosecutors decided after studying the materials allied to the case that there was no basis for the lower-ranked quarter prosecutors to invite CEO Robert Dudley for questioning on Monday, Interfax and ITAR-Tass reported.

Neither city nor district prosecutors could be reached for comment.

Earlier Saturday, district prosecutors had announced that Dudley was wanted for questioning end for end possible violations of the work and migration laws. They ordered him to appear for questioning on Monday.

Dudley left the country on Thursday, and Marina Dracheva, a TNK-BP spokeswoman, said earlier Saturday that the company would send some functionary in his absence.

Dudley said earlier this week that his departure followed months of pressure on the company, and he vowed to run it from abroad.

Nelli Sharushkina, head analyst at Energy Intelligence, a publisher of energy-related newsletters, said that prosecutors had already checked Dudley during the term of possible labor and visa violations and found trifle.

“It’s always practicable to catch minor violations of the labor law - analogous for not filling completely the proper conformation for going attached holidays,” she said.

“If they found anything this era, it’s no big distribution. The fines for labor jurisprudence violations are insignificant, especially for a company like TNK-BP,” Sharushkina said.

The TNK-BP case is seen as a key test for President Dmitry Medvedev, who has campaigned to counterbalance corruption and government control of the economy.

Many analysts are convinced the campaign for TNK-BP is part of an effort by the state to gain a controlling stake in the partnership.

News of Dudley’s departure helped drive investors without of Russian stocks Friday, with the MICEX, the exchange where the bulk of trading in Russian shares takes stronghold, plunging 5.5 percent. The RTS Index reprobate 5.6 percent, sinking to its lowest point since March.