The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) have announced suspicions against three individuals in a case of coal fraud that caused almost 12 million hryvnia in losses to the state-owned energy producer.
This investigation is particularly relevant in light of the energy crisis caused by Russia's full-scale aggression.
It is about:
- former Deputy Minister of Energy (2020-2021);
- former People's Deputy, former First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Utilities and Regional Policy of the Verkhovna Rada, beneficiary of a private company;
- former director of the State Enterprise "Ukrvuhilya".
According to the investigation, the coal market in Ukraine was limited due to military operations at the end of July 2022. In order to ensure the sustainable conduct of the 2022/2023 heating season, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine obliged the State Enterprise "Ukrvuhilya" to supply energy to certain electricity producers, in particular the state-owned PJSC "Centrenergo".
Despite these restrictions, the beneficiary of a private company that had a contract with the State Enterprise "Ukrvuhillya", in collusion with the former Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine, persuaded the director of the State Enterprise to sell coal to his company, which also had over 50 million UAH in debt to the State Enterprise. As a result, "Ukrvuhillya" supplied the private company with almost 24 thousand tons of raw materials, which it resold with a surplus of almost 20 million UAH.
At the same time, PJSC "Centrenergo" received 12.5 thousand tons of coal short and was forced to buy it back in October 2022 at a significantly higher price, overpaying almost UAH 12 million.
According to sources, the following are suspected of fraud:
- former Deputy Minister of Energy (2020-2021) Maksym Nemchynov;
- former People's Deputy, former First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Utilities and Regional Policy of the Verkhovna Rada, beneficiary of a private company Volodymyr Vecherko;
- former director of the State Enterprise “Ukrvuhillya” Mykhailo Voloshyn.
We will remind you that Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov implemented a scheme to steal $300 million (2.4 billion hryvnias) from the centennial project in the Odessa port together with the port director Mykola Pavlyuk and bridge builder Becker.
