The Kroll investigation agency, hired by GfK research company after its subsidiary GfK Ukraine was accused of participating in the manipulation of television ratings, has established that GfK Ukraine employees were not involved in any such possible manipulations, reads a statement of the research company issued on Monday.

"On the basis of the existing evidence, we've come to the conclusion that there are neither conditions nor proof that could confirm the existence of internal corruption at GfK Ukraine," GfK said, citing Kroll Managing Director Robert Viteretti.

The result of a statistical audit of GfK Ukraine's survey showed that there are a certain number of households that have non-typical habits for television viewing. However, Kroll did not find any proof that among the households polled there were those whose television viewing habits were manipulated.

"Households presented clear explanations about their behavior when they watched television, adding that … no one asked them to change their behavior when they watch television. In addition, there is no confidence that orders [to view certain programs] existed, as this cannot be proved," reads the document.

According to the agreement between GfK and the company that ordered the survey, it was decided to exclude data received from the above-mentioned households to remove any doubts. Now the size of the panel is being restored, thanks to the attraction of new households, the company said.

"As GfK is responsible for the accuracy of information from the panel, the company will continue focusing on the introduction of more sophisticated security instruments… GfK Ukraine will monitor all possible forms of deviation in the results and determine the reasons for the deviations," the statement says.

The report says that apart from external audit conducted by Kroll agency, the process also included an audit of the company's IT security system conducted by an international IT security company. Independent audits of media surveys of GfK Ukraine were conducted under an order from clients.

As reported, in early May the director of the Ru.Music TV channel, Rudolf Kirnos, said that 5-8% of the information from the television panel were fabricated, and it was resulted in the wrong distribution of advertisement income. The director of the TV channel said that some households were bribed and purposefully changed data, while at least two employees at GFK sold databases of households.

In October, Kirnos said that the Ru.Music TV channel accused GFK research company of manipulating the ratings of Ukrainian TV channels, although a criminal case has not been opened.