The Security Service of Ukraine, together with the National Police, has uncovered a large-scale scheme of abuse in the field of heat generation and supply in Ivano-Frankivsk. According to law enforcement officers, during the two heating seasons of 2021–2023, officials of private companies artificially inflated heat tariffs, causing losses to consumers and the city of more than 71 million hryvnias.
As reported by the SBU Department in Ivano-Frankivsk region on Tuesday, December 16, the organizer of the scheme was a resident of Kyiv region - a beneficiary of a number of companies and facilities in the energy sector. He created two affiliated structures that leased about 25% of the heat generating and heat supply capacities of the regional center.
To increase profits, the controlled companies concluded lease and sublease agreements for the same heat-generating equipment and heating networks. The costs under these fictitious agreements were included in the tariffs for the production and transportation of heat energy, which were paid by the residents of Ivano-Frankivsk. In addition, during the formation of tariffs, real heat losses in the networks were hidden, as a result of which consumers received less heat and actually paid for services not provided.
Subsequently, the organizer of the scheme established control over the remaining 75% of the city's thermal energy infrastructure - boiler houses and heating networks, which were on the balance sheet of the municipal enterprise. As a result, the municipal enterprise suffered significant financial losses due to the lack of compensation for thermal energy losses and payment for the transportation of fictitious volumes of heat.
During searches of the suspects' homes in Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, and Kyiv region, law enforcement officers seized financial and business documentation, draft records, computer equipment, mobile phones, and other evidence of illegal activity.
The organizer of the scheme and three former company managers were notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - appropriation of property by abuse of official position on an especially large scale, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons under martial law. The sanction of the article provides for 7 to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and a ban on holding certain positions.
