HACC sanctions detention of another suspect in energy sector corruption case

The investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), at the request of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detectives, approved by the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) prosecutor, applied a preventive measure in the form of detention with the alternative of posting a UAH 95 million bail to another employee of the money laundering back office, the SAPO said on Telegram on Thursday on Telegram.

As reported, among the participants of the large-scale corruption scheme in the energy sector identified by NABU are, in particular, a member of the National Commission for State Regulation in the Energy and Utilities Sectors, Serhiy Pushkar, businessman Tymur Mindich, former executive director for physical protection and security of Joint Stock Company National Nuclear Energy Generating Company (JSC NNEGC) Energoatom" Dmytro Basov, and former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Mironiuk.

Earlier, with reference to NABU, it was reported that the main direction of the criminal organization’s activity was the systematic receipt of illegal benefits from Energoatom’s counterparties in the amount of 10% to 15% of the value of contracts. In particular, Energoatom’s counterparties were imposed conditions for paying "kickbacks" for avoiding blocking payments for services provided/products delivered or deprivation of supplier status. This practice was called "barrier" (slagbaum), the Telegram channel noted on Monday.

Suspicions have already been announced eight individuals, including former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.

On the night of Tuesday, November 11, one of the defendants in the case, a member of the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Utilities of Ukraine, Serhiy Pushkar, who previously worked at Energoatom, left Ukraine.

Mindich and Zuckerman fled Ukraine.