The first week of September 2024 was marked by serious personnel changes in the Ukrainian government. One of the most discussed candidates for resignation is the director of Ukrnafta PJSC and Ukrtatnafta JSC Serhiy Koretskyi. According to sources, his tenure was in jeopardy due to serious allegations of a conflict of interest, the disappearance of oil and alleged corruption ties.
After the nationalization of these two companies, Koretsky seems to have tried with all his might to play the role of a "decent manager", and also devoted a lot of time to personal PR, allegedly ordering grandiose articles and interviews in the Ukrainian mass media. However, it seems that in reality the official, under the guise of public service, secretly "plays" in large-scale corruption schemes.
Serhiy Koretsky is allegedly a protégé of Rostislav Shurma, the former deputy head of the Office of the President, who left his post just this week. At the same time, as early as 2021, several officials from the energy industry, heads of enterprises and people's deputies confirmed to journalists that it was Shurma who partially replaced the economic bloc of the government.
Political expert and blogger Mykhailo Shnayder described the chronology of how Serhiy Koretsky engaged in fraud in his own interests, creating a conflict of interests between "Ukrnafta" and "Ukrtatnafta", as well as manipulating the companies' profits.
In particular, Schneider recalls the legal battles between two state-owned enterprises headed by Koretsky for allegedly lost oil and oil products.
So, in September 2023, Ukrnafta filed a lawsuit against Ukrtatnafta, demanding the return of 183,000 tons of oil that it transferred to it for processing in 2022. After nationalization, these oil reserves mysteriously "disappeared", and "Ukrnafta" through the commercial court of the Poltava region tried either to return the raw materials or to receive compensation in the amount of 6.4 billion hryvnias.
However, during the six months of the court process, Ukrnafta could not clearly define its claims. At the same time, Ukrnafta stated that only Ukrtatnafta, having access to its tanks, can determine whether oil is available. For its part, Ukrtatnafta stated that it is technically impossible to clarify this issue, actually blocking the investigation.
But the most interesting thing is that both state-owned enterprises are headed by the same person — Serhiy Koretskyi, who thereby appeals to himself and creates a conflict of interests.
In May 2024, the court rejected Ukrnafta's lawsuit, the case went to appeal, and the fate of the oil still remains unknown. Some experts assume that the oil was actually processed and sold by Ukrnafta as early as 2023 without proper documents. Therefore, the lawsuit may be an attempt to divert the attention of the State Audit Service of Ukraine (SASU), which is interested in the "disappeared" oil.
Another example is the lawsuit of "Ukrnafta" against "Ukrtatnafta" dated March 4, 2024. Here, Serhiy Koretskyi, who manages both companies, is demanding UAH 245.4 million in damages from himself through the court, of which UAH 244.2 million is for the missing tar, and UAH 1.2 million is for the TC-1 fuel. Ukrtatnafta produced these petroleum products from Ukrnafta oil back in 2022, and part of them was supposed to remain in storage. However, after nationalization, these reserves "disappeared", although the audit did not reveal any shortages, and Ukrnafta continued to pay for their storage until September 2023.
The court ruled that Koretskyi (from Ukrtatnafta) must pay Koretskyi (Ukrnafta) UAH 245.4 million for the missing oil products and UAH 1.1 million in court costs. However, the official filed an appeal, and the fate of the missing oil products remains unknown. It is possible that these oil products could have been sold to Koretsky without documents.
But these are not the only scandalous episodes during Serhiy Koretskyi's work. Thus, already during the full-scale war with the Russian Federation, Ukrnafta signed a contract for the purchase of methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) with the Swiss company AGTG SA, which is associated with Yevgeny Svirsky, a businessman who previously managed the Glusco gas station chain for Viktor's entourage Medvedchuk, a former deputy from the banned "OPZH" and, at the same time, the best man of the President of the Russian Federation. This was reported by political commentator Alyona Yakhno. According to her, the contract was concluded with a large overpayment of more than 1 billion hryvnias, and this purchase was not reflected on Prozorro.
Moreover, according to Yakhno, Svirskyi is a business partner of Iryna Koretskyi, the wife of the head of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta Serhiy Koretskyi.
Koretsky also allegedly managed to organize a family contract in "Ukrnafta" while working in the civil service. The sister of the official's wife, Olena Moruzko, is allegedly the owner and manager of Ukrainian Fuel Standard LLC (UPS).
The nationalization of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta took place in November 2022, and a month later Olena Moruzko registered UPS LLC. Her business partner was Kateryna Varlamova, who previously worked as an administrator at the WOG company and has close ties with Serhiy Koretsky.
"UPS" buys petroleum products directly from "Ukrnafta" at favorable wholesale prices, as well as fuel coupons through its subsidiary "Ukrnafta-Snab". According to Prozorro's open data, in 2023 the UPS company took part in tenders worth UAH 343 million and won bids worth UAH 146 million. Among the main clients of the company are state enterprises, such as "Lysy Ukrainy", "United Mining and Chemical Company", city councils, the police and other state and communal structures.
"UPS" receives petroleum products from "Ukrnafta", as well as fuel coupons from its subsidiary "Ukrnafta-Postach". With minimal assets, "UPS" appears to be acting as a paperweight, buying products at discounted prices and selling them at commercial prices. Despite the fact that the company has no warehouses, production facilities or transport, it actively conducts operations and brings profit to the Korecki-Moruzhko family.
All this seems to indicate serious problems in Ukrtatnafta and Ukrnafta, which were, it seems, artificially created by Serhiy Koretsky. The main ones are the conflict of interests due to the fact that one person holds several management positions, insufficient control by the supervisory boards of both companies and state bodies that perform the functions of shareholders, as well as lack of transparency in the work of enterprises.
