The commission for the competition for the position of director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) will determine three finalists for the selection on March 4.
“On March 4, 2023, a meeting of the commission on holding a competition for the position of director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau … The meeting will consider the determination of three selected candidates,” reads the announcement on the government website.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has put Mikhail Volynets, a Verkhovna Rada MP of the ninth convocation and leader of the Independent Union of Mineworkers of Ukraine, on the wanted list for allegedly entering false information in the 2020 e-declaration for almost 1.79 million UAH.
“The NABU is looking for Volynets Mikhail Yakovlevich, suspected of committing a criminal offense under part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” reported in the Telegram channel NABU on Thursday.
As reported, the NABU and the SAP informed Volynets of the suspicion under Part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code (as amended until July 21, 2021), November 17. “In the declaration for 2020 people’s deputy did not indicate 2 luxury cars, which he used and which by right of ownership belonged to his close relatives, as well as the income of his civil wife in the amount of almost 95 thousand UAH. In total, the amount of undeclared property is more than 786 times higher than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons, “- stated in the message.
The SAP notes that the pre-trial investigation was launched by the prosecutor-general on the report of the SAP prosecutors due to the discovery of relevant information during a journalistic investigation. Later, as the prosecutor’s office stressed, this information was confirmed by the materials of the NAPC check and the results of the investigation by NABU detectives.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a new episode in the Rotterdam+ case for another UAH 20 billion, as part of the investigation of which 2 former chairmen of the energy regulator NEURC were reported suspected; 6 former and 3 current members, as well as the current and former employee of the Commission.
“On October 26, 2022, NABU and SAPO reported the suspicion of 15 persons involved in the implementation of the so-called Rotterdam + formula, according to which electricity consumers illegally overpaid more than UAH 20 billion during 2018-2019,” the law enforcement authorities said in a statement. on Wednesday.
According to him, among the suspects is a current and former official of a group of private heat generating companies.
As explained by the NABU, 6 of these 15 persons, according to the investigation, knowingly took part in the crime, received new suspicions under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power with grave consequences). The actions of the NEURC members who, without understanding, voted for the approval of the so-called “Rotterdam +” formula, were qualified under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (negligence with grave consequences).
“The investigation believes that they improperly performed their official duties, which entailed grave consequences for the state and public interests,” the bureau noted.
As specified in the NABU, this is the second episode of a large-scale investigation by anti-corruption agencies. The investigation of the first, on suspicion of six people, regarding the illegal overpayment of more than UAH 19 billion during 2016-2017, was completed in September 2022.
According to investigators, the so-called “Rotterdam+” formula included expenses that did not actually exist, namely, the transportation of nationally produced coal to TPPs from the port in Rotterdam. As a result, according to NABU and SAPO, end consumers during 2016-2019. overpaid more than UAH 39 billion.
“The investigation has evidence that representatives of a group of private heat generating companies, who eventually received excess profits, persuaded the NKREKU (National Commission for State Regulation in the Energy and Public Services – IF) to accept such a formula. At first, the regulator did not agree, realizing the absurdity of including transportation costs in the tariff However, in March 2016, he agreed to this proposal,” the ministry stressed.
As a result, there was an increase in electricity tariffs for industry, social infrastructure facilities, entrepreneurs, which led to an increase in the cost of goods and services to the end consumer, including essentials, the NABU summarized.
As reported, the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (CFG), Oleksandr Klimenko, decided in September 2022 to cancel the prosecutor’s decision to close the so-called “Rotterdam+ case” as illegal and unfounded.
It was noted that Klymenko also completely changed the group of prosecutors in this case due to the ineffective implementation of supervision over the observance of laws during the pre-trial investigation.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has put three defendants in the Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) case on the wanted list, including the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kirill Shevchenko.
“NABU is looking for three officials of JSB Ukrgasbank involved in the theft of more than UAH 200 million. We are talking about the ex-chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank, one of the deputies of Ukrgasbank and the deputy director of the department for working with corporate VIP clients of this state institution,” the press reports. – NABU service.
It is specified that, in addition to Shevchenko, the former head of the NBU, who previously held the post of chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank, Denis Chernyshov, deputy head of the board of the bank, and Olena Khmelenko, deputy director of the department for working with corporate VIP clients, have been put on the wanted list.
It is noted that they were notified of suspicion in early October, but in a special order, since the location of these persons was unknown. Since then, the suspects have ignored calls to the investigator, which is why they were put on the wanted list.
As reported, the anti-corruption authorities of Ukraine exposed the illegal activities of officials of the state-owned Ukrgasbank. Five main defendants in this crime were notified of suspicion, among which was Shevchenko.
According to the prosecutor’s office, it was established that the management of Ukrgasbank, having information about banking service agreements concluded with large customers, used it to steal money.
“For this purpose, bank officials ensured the conclusion of fictitious contracts with individuals and legal entities, who allegedly, being the bank’s “agents”, attracted large clients to it. For such “agent services”, the bank illegally paid “remuneration” to these persons on a monthly basis, “they explained then in the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation found that during 2014-2020. under this scheme, 52 fictitious agents were groundlessly transferred funds from the state bank in the amount of more than UAH 206 million.
On October 4, Shevchenko announced his resignation from the post of head of the NBU for health reasons. The Rada appointed him to this seven-year term on July 16, 2020, before that he headed the board of the state-owned Ukrgasbank.
On October 7, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Andriy Pyshny, ex-head of Oschadbank, to the post of head of the NBU.
Prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau have informed eight persons of suspicion involved in the embezzlement of property and funds of Ukrnafta in the amount of over UAH 13 billion, the SAP press service reports.
“In the course of the pre-trial investigation, it was established that the officials of five commercial enterprises, by prior collusion with the officials of PJSC Ukrnafta, in particular the acting chairman of the board and the heads of two structural units of the enterprise (positions indicated at the time of the crime), which in Violation of the requirements of the current legislation, which provides for advance payment for the supply of oil without its implementation during March-August 2015, placed in favor of commercial enterprises oil with a total value of more than 10 billion hryvnias, which the officials of these enterprises took possession of, causing losses to PJSC “Ukrnafta” for the specified amount,” the Telegram channel said.
It was also established that in July 2015, Ukrnafta officials concluded 52 contracts with a commercial enterprise for the supply of oil products in the amount of over UAH 2.5 billion for the benefit of Ukrnafta, which, in turn, made advance payments in full. However, in the future, “Ukrnafta” entered into additional agreements to postpone the delivery of oil products until the end of 2018, which as a result, the commercial enterprise never delivered, and the officials of the commercial enterprise took possession of the money paid in advance and transferred it to the accounts of non-resident enterprises.
The actions of the suspects are classified under Part 5 of Art. 191 (seizing someone else’s property by abusing an official’s official position, by prior collusion by a group of persons, in particularly large amounts) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The specified actions are punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of seven to 12 years, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years, and with confiscation of property.
Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has said that the next year will show whether the anti-corruption processes in Ukraine will become irreversible.
“Today, all anti-corruption bodies work together and are fused in some way, complement each other. We have reached the highest level of our work in cooperation,” Sytnyk said on Thursday in Kyiv at the Seven Years of Anti-Corruption Reforms conference, timed to coincide with the International Anti-Corruption Day.
According to him, work with international partners has also been established.
“We will continue to work not only with punitive methods, but with methods that are aimed at preventing corruption, at fostering zero tolerance for corruption in society,” Sytnyk said.
At the same time, the director of NABU said that it is too early to assert about the inevitability of anti-corruption processes in Ukraine.
“In the next year, I think we will receive an answer whether the anti-corruption reform in Ukraine is irreversible, whether the results we are getting in very difficult conditions are irreversible,” he said.
According to Sytnyk, for seven years there have been constant attempts to limit the powers of anti-corruption bodies, to deprive them of their powers. “Each anti-corruption body that starts to work actively always receives some kind of decisions – by the parliament or the Constitutional Court – aimed at depriving them of their powers,” the NABU director said.
“We are not stopping our struggle. And, despite the fact that the anti-corruption system is now experiencing a change of leadership, – now it concerns the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, and in the near future it will concern the anti-corruption bureau – I believe that the system itself is formed, effective, institutionally independent and ready for further action,” Sytnyk said.
