Law enforcers in Ukraine opened a criminal case under the article “High treason” against the head of the company “Naftogaz” Andrey Kobolev. He announced this on Thursday, October 8, on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.
“Another criminal case has been opened against me, this time for high treason,” said the top manager and added that he was ready to answer all charges.
The specialized anti-corruption prosecutor’s office (SAP) of Ukraine announced on Thursday that it suspects the management of Naftogaz of stealing gas in the amount of almost 730 million hryvnia (about $ 26.3 million). According to the investigation, during 2016-2017, the directors of the enterprises – owners of Novoyavorivskaya and Novorozdolskaya CHPPs in the Lviv region concluded a number of agreements on the purchase of natural gas from Naftogaz. However, the company supplied gas to the CHPPs at prices significantly lower than market prices, as a result of which the profitability of electricity production by these CHPPs exceeded 60% against 35% included in the tariff.
Investigators calculated that as a result of this criminal scheme, the CHPPs received super profits comparable to the amount of damage caused to Naftogaz.
Earlier, on October 7, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, co-chairman of the Opposition Platform – For Life party Vadim Rabinovich said that “they found a“ hole ”of billions of hryvnias in Naftogaz”.
On December 25, 2019, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed a ban on the import of electricity from Russia under bilateral agreements. Thus, the Kiev authorities are seeking control over energy prices in the domestic market and increasing competition in this area.