Situation around Naftogaz: NABU denied the company's statement about the absence of searches at Naftogaz's security director
Kyiv • UNN
NABU confirmed searches at Naftogaz's security director, denying the company's information about their absence. The investigative actions do not concern Naftogaz's activities, and the details of the investigation are not disclosed.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine commented on the situation surrounding the searches at the security director of Naftogaz of Ukraine. This is reported by UNN with reference to NABU.
Details
Earlier, UNN, citing Naftogaz, reported that no searches were being conducted in Naftogaz offices, and "information disseminated in the media does not correspond to reality."
At the same time, NABU stated that searches did take place, but they do not concern Naftogaz's activities. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau refused to provide other details of the investigation, explaining this by the need to maintain the secrecy of the pre-trial investigation.
In response to media inquiries, we inform that NABU detectives, under the procedural guidance of SAP, conducted searches at the security director of Naftogaz of Ukraine Group. No person was detained, and no suspicion was reported. The investigative actions were sanctioned and carried out in accordance with current legislation.
Context
On November 10, NABU and SAP reported on an operation to expose a corruption scheme influencing strategic enterprises of the state sector, in particular JSC "NAEK "Energoatom". The operation was named "Midas".
NABU published "tapes" in a large-scale corruption case in the energy sector, where code names are mentioned. And SAP showed an "interesting artifact" with Russian symbols, which law enforcement officers found during a search in the office of one of the co-organizers of the corruption scheme.
SAP later revealed details, noting that the main direction of the criminal organization's activity was the systematic receipt of undue benefits from Energoatom's counterparties in the amount of 10 to 15% of the contract value.
Law enforcement officers established that the function of legalizing illegally obtained funds was assigned to a separate office of the criminal organization, located in the center of Kyiv. "In total, about 100 million US dollars passed through the so-called "laundry," NABU said.
This scandal led to the resignation of Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who was previously Minister of Energy, as well as his successor at the Ministry of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk. Both decisions were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on November 19.