$5 million fraud discovered at Ukrainian railway operator
Allegedly, the fraud centered around a basic procurement contract to which additional agreements were signed. The suspected conspirators used this arrangement to avoid open bidding and systematically purchase gas at inflated prices. The difference between actual and inflated prices was allegedly divided among the transaction's participants.
For example, in February 2017, the organizers of the scheme sold gas to UZ at a price of UAH 10,024.20 ($271) per 1,000 cubic meters. The market price at that time was UAH 9,121.49/1,000 cubic meters ($247), according to a commodity expert retained by the anti-corruption bodies. Moreover, the same company simultaneously sold gas to other buyers at much lower prices than UZ, NABU claims.
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The scheme operated from 2016 to 2020, with NABU and SAPO beginning their investigations in February 2020. In the fall of 2020, the owner of the supplier company, suspected of involvement in the scheme, became a regional council member. His company is also involved in another NABU and SAPO case regarding the fraudulent supply of fuel oil/diesel fuel to UZ for UAH 100 million ($2.7 million). This case is currently being heard in court.
The UZ department responsible for these purchases — the Production Support Center — has become a hotbed of corruption, with nearly every single head of the department since 2015 having been prosecuted by anti-corruption authorities — eight in total. The department carries out centralized procurement for Ukrzaliznytsia.
On June 11, the High Anti-Corruption Court arrested Serhiy Belashov, head of the Batkivshchyna party in the Poltava Oblast Council and owner of Ukrainian Capital Bank, on UAH 30 million ($810,000) bail. He is one of the main figures suspected to have profited from the gas fraud scheme, NABU and SAPO say. According to the investigation, Belashov's company, Skela Terzium, was actively involved in the fraud.
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"A commercial entity made an offer, and Ukrzaliznytsia autonomously determines if it will purchase the gas or not," Tymoshenko said.
“Therefore, I find it peculiar that this case has arisen at all. The gas price was not only a market rate, it approximated the regulated price level.”
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
