Causing UAH 716 million in losses to Ukrenergo: Head of Alliance Bank and Kiperman served with notice of suspicion
Kyiv • UNN
Four individuals, including the chairman of the board of Alliance Bank and a former director of Ukrenergo, were charged with embezzling UAH 716 million from NPC Ukrenergo through an illegal electricity sales scheme.
The scheme to seize electricity from NPC Ukrenergo and legalize the proceeds from its sale was exposed. The amount of losses is over UAH 716 million. Four people have been notified of suspicion, including Dmytro Kondrashov, former director of the Ukrenergo department, and Yulia Frolova, chairman of the board of Alliance Bank. This was reported by UNN with reference to the SAPO.
As UNN has learned from its own sources, these are Mykhailo Kiperman, who is considered to be the organizer of the crime, Yulia Frolova, chairman of the board of Alliance Bank, Andriy Korotkevych-Leshchenko , director of United Energy LLC, and Dmytro Kondrashov, former director of the department of NPC Ukrenergo.
On January 11, 2024, under the procedural guidance of SAPO prosecutors, NABU detectives served suspicion notices to 4 persons involved in the implementation of a criminal scheme to seize electricity from NPC Ukrenergo and legalize the proceeds from its sale
Among the suspects:
- a person whom the investigation considers to be the organizer of the crime - part 5 of Article 191 and part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
- former director of the department of PrJSC NPC Ukrenergo - part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
- Chairman of the Board of a commercial bank - Article 364-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
- director of a private company - part 5 of Article 191 and part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
"The pre-trial investigation established that at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a private company that has been operating in the electricity market since 2019 as one of the largest traders actually stopped paying for electricity received from Ukrenergo and simultaneously stopped purchasing it in other segments from different market participants," the statement said.
The SAPO reports that given the status of this company as a party responsible for the balance, the "suddenly formed" electricity deficit in the form of a negative imbalance had to be compensated for by taking much more expensive electricity from Ukrenergo, which the organizer of the crimes and his officials did not intend to pay for in advance.
"Despite the fact that the private company (United Energy LLC - ed.) had a debt to the company, the head of the Ukrenergo department responsible for applying the sanctions imposed on the company did not stop the sale of electricity. In turn, the payment guarantor, a commercial bank, did not reimburse the amount of debt owed to Ukrenergo and could not do so due to gross violations by the bank's Chairman of the Board when issuing a bank guarantee in the amount of UAH 1.85 billion," the SAPO informs.
It is noted that the energy received by the private enterprise was subsequently resold to real market participants, but at lower prices than those purchased from Ukrenergo, and the funds received as a result of this scheme were legalized by transferring them between related legal entities and withdrawing part of them to accounts in foreign banking institutions.
"Having failed to receive funds for the sale of energy, NPC Ukrenergo appealed to the guarantor bank, but the company was refused to repay the debt. The timely response of the anti-corruption authorities resulted in the seizure of UAH 721 million on the accounts of the companies involved in the criminal scheme. In addition, within the framework of international cooperation, funds on the accounts of the company controlled by the organizer of the scheme in two European countries were also blocked," the statement said.
