Officials of JSC "Poltavagaz", a key player in the gas supply market of Poltava region, were involved in a large -scale scheme for the resale of blue fuel. Gas purchased from the state company Naftogaz of Ukraine at preferential tariffs for the population was further sold to industrial consumers at market prices - with a huge margin.
The investigation found that the difference between a preferential tariff of UAH 7.96 per cubic meter and industrial, which in 2024 ranged from 13.6 to 19.2 UAH, settled in the pockets of the company management. According to the previous version, it is a systemic conspiracy headed by the heads of Poltavagaz - the chairman of the board, the head of the branch, the chief engineer and the head of the accounting department. All of them are charged with the appropriation of property in particularly large sizes (Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Investigators also investigate another corruption practice - shadow agreements with "gas theft". The detected offenders seemed to be offered only half of the fine, without official consideration in a special commission. Everything was solved in cash - which allowed to avoid legal liability to both consumers and officials themselves.
There are currently no losses, but it is a systemic theft that could last for years.
JSC "Poltavagaz" is under the actual control of the Lelyuk family. 42.51% of the shares belong to the former People's Deputy Alexei Lelyuk, another 26.01% - his father Vladimir. Another 25% is Naftogaz of Ukraine. At the same time Lelyuk, Jr. is also controlled by LLC "Poltavagaz Sales", which sells gas to the population and enterprises of the region.
Alexey Lelyuk is a People's Deputy of Ukraine of four convocations, in the past - a representative of the Party of Regions. He began to accumulate his share in Poltavagaz in the 2000s, when he headed the company. Currently, the director of the company is Sergey Pogrebnyak, but all key solutions, according to sources in the industry, are consistent with the Lelyuk family.
Despite the gas resale scheme, Poltavagaz himself officially graduated from 2024 with a loss of UAH 40.7 million. At the same time, the revenues amounted to UAH 929.9 million, and total liabilities - more than 1.7 billion. The cost of the company's assets - UAH 963.6 million.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the company continues to serve hundreds of thousands of household consumers of the region, and given financial instability and abuse of the issue of changing the management model or even privatization may appear in the near future.
