Employees of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) notified a Lviv businessman of their suspicions and detained the former chairman of the board of Ukrenergo on suspicion of fraudulent appropriation of funds from the state-owned enterprise EK Ukrenergo.
“Under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the SBI notified a Lviv businessman of suspicion and detained the former chairman of the board of Ukrenergo on suspicion of fraudulent appropriation of funds from NEC Ukrenergo,” the SBI reported on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
“The scheme was organized by a Lviv businessman who had previously been exposed by the SBI for purchasing low-quality clothing for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more than UAH 1 billion,” the agency said.
According to the bureau, in 2018, during tenders for the reconstruction of the external fencing of substations of the Southern and Western power systems, the official colluded with representatives of a private company.
At that time, as specified by the SBI, he held the position of deputy director for investments at the state-owned enterprise “NPC Ukrenergo.”
“Two contracts were signed between the parties for a total amount of over UAH 68 million. After that, the state-owned enterprise transferred over UAH 13.7 million in advance payments to the contractor, which the perpetrators embezzled,” the bureau said.
The SBI report does not name the individuals involved. They are former Ukrenergo head Volodymyr Kudrytskyi and Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevych.
Earlier, a source in law enforcement agencies told Interfax-Ukraine that SBI employees had detained former Ukrenergo head Volodymyr Kudrytskyi in the Lviv region and were preparing to charge him with fraud on an especially large scale.
The agency’s source specified that the case concerns businessman Ihor Hrynkevych and the alleged misappropriation of state-owned company funds during tenders for the reconstruction of power system facilities back in 2018.
Investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on Wednesday, December 29, conducted a series of searches as part of an investigation into a criminal scheme for the supply of coal from the temporarily occupied territories and assistance to the LPR and DPR terrorist organizations by a group of Ukrainian citizens.
“In order to avoid manipulation and subsequent informational speculations around this criminal proceeding, we inform you that on December 29, 2021, the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations, on the basis of the relevant determinations of the investigating judge, conducted a number of searches at the places of possible storage of things or documents that are important for criminal proceedings,” the SBI told Interfax-Ukraine.
The bureau said that within the proceedings under Part 1 and Part 3 of Article 258-5 (financing of terrorism), Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason) and Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Earlier, Head of the central headquarters of the European Solidarity party Oleksandr Turchynov said at a briefing that law enforcement officers at 07.00 on Wednesday searched the premises of first assistant to the fifth president of Ukraine, Yuriy Onyschenko, and former deputy Serhiy Berezenko, but found nothing.
Fifth President of Ukraine and current member of the Ukrainian parliament Petro Poroshenko does not want to cooperate with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on the investigations into thirteen criminal proceedings in which he is a witness, SBI Director Roman Truba said. “Petro Poroshenko should understand that it is in his interests to testify so that the investigators can study the circumstances as soon as possible […] Unfortunately, the ex-president does not agree on that. We are offering cooperation, but he offers opposition. We are proposing to him an investigation into all circumstances of the case, he is engaging in politics near the SBI office,” Truba told a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
A testimony is needed first and foremost for Poroshenko himself, Truba said.
The SBI is investigating 13 criminal proceedings in which Poroshenko is a witness and he is being questioned in that status, Truba said.
