Almost 20% of Ukrnafta’s fuel could have been misappropriated through a scheme – NABU
Михайло Кіперман. фото: biz.censor.net
NABU and SAPO announced the discovery of a scheme to seize 100,000 tons of Ukrnafta petroleum products worth over UAH 2.88 billion. Four participants in the transaction were informed of suspicion.
This was reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, the scheme operated in 2017–2020. Ukrnafta’s petroleum products were transferred to a controlled company under commission agreements, after which part of the fuel was sent to other related companies for wholesale and retail sale through a network of gas stations.
The money from the sale was transferred to controlled companies, including abroad. According to the investigation, a network of offshore companies in Cyprus, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the British Virgin Islands were used to hide the ultimate owners.
NABU noted that 100 thousand tons of petroleum products accounted for almost 20% of the total volume of fuel sold at Ukrnafta gas stations during the scheme .
Four suspects were informed of the suspicion. Among them are one of the leaders of a well-known business group, a shareholder of a number of companies controlled by it, as well as the chairman of the board and deputy chairman of the board for commercial issues of related joint-stock companies.
Their actions were classified under articles on the appropriation of property in particularly large amounts and the legalization of property obtained by criminal means.
A separate written notice of suspicion was filed against the former vice president of Ukrnafta, who is a foreigner. The documents were sent abroad for delivery as part of international cooperation.
The Anti-Corruption Center and MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak claim that one of the suspects may be businessman Mykhailo Kiperman , who is linked to Ihor Kolomoisky. However, NABU has not officially named the suspects .
Anti-corruption authorities are also investigating the circumstances of the possible seizure of Ukrnafta’s property in subsequent periods, in particular after the introduction of martial law.
In addition, during the investigation, detectives discovered a possible leak of classified data. According to the NABU, information about the planned investigative actions was passed on to a trusted person of the organizers of the scheme, and a senior SBU officer may have been involved in this.
As a reminder, law enforcement officers previously investigated a fuel scheme involving Ukrtatnafta , in which former company executives were suspected of misappropriating billions of hryvnias worth of petroleum products.
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