The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has denied the prosecutor’s request for a preventive measure in the form of detention with an alternative to a 365 million UAH bail for the former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andrey Kobolev.
The court made a decision to that effect on Monday night.
“The petition for a measure of restraint in the form of detention against the suspect Kobolev to leave without satisfaction … The decision can be appealed in the appeal chamber of the SACC within five days from the moment of the announcement,” the judge announced.
As reported, a prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and detectives of the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine last week notified the former head of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev of suspicion of abusing his official position while ensuring himself a 229m hryvnia bonus payment for the company’s victory in the Stockholm arbitration with Russia’s Gazprom.
According to the investigation, this amount considerably exceeds the normative amounts of such payments (37.48 mln hryvnyas).
The Stockholm arbitration in 2018-19 as a result of two disputes between the companies on the supply and transit of gas ruled that Gazprom had to pay additional $2.56 billion to NAC.
At the same time, the arbitration fully rejected Gazprom’s claims to Naftogaz on the “take or pay” condition for the period 2012-2017 in the amount of $56 billion.
