Court Extends Probe into Former Energy Deputy Minister’s Case

The higher anti-corruption court extended until December 26 the term of the pre-trial investigation in the case of suspicion of embezzlement by ex-Deputy Minister of Energy Maksym Nemchynov , former People's Deputy Volodymyr Vecherko , and ex-General Director of the state-owned enterprise "Ukrvugil" Vitaly Zyuska. Such a decision was made by HACC on October 24, "Slovo i Dilo" reports.

Partially grant the request. Extend the period of pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings to five months, i.e. until December 26, 2024 inclusive

Earlier, in this case, CA VAKS applied a preventive measure to Maksym Nemchynov, adviser to the Minister of Energy.

It will be recalled that NABU and SAP reported the suspicion to the former Deputy Minister of Energy Maksym Nemchynov and others. According to the investigation, at the end of July 2022, due to military actions, the coal market in Ukraine was limited. In order to ensure a sustainable heating season of 2022/2023, the Cabinet of Ministers obliged the state-owned enterprise "Ukrvugilya" to supply the energy carrier to certain electricity producers, in particular to the state-owned PJSC "Centrenergo".

Despite these restrictions, the beneficiary of a private company that had a contract with SE Ukrvugilya, in collusion with the ex-deputy minister of energy, persuaded the director of Ukrvugilya to sell coal to his company, which also owed more than UAH 50 million to the state-owned enterprise. As a result, Ukrvugillia supplied the private company with almost 24,000 tons of raw materials, which it resold with a surplus of almost UAH 20 million.

At the same time, Centerenergo PJSC did not receive 12.5 thousand tons of coal and was forced to buy it back in October 2022 at a much higher price, overpaying almost UAH 12 million.

We will remind, in Lviv, an official of the TCP was detained for trying to bribe a colleague.

In addition, we wrote that the ex-management of the Forest Cemetery is suspected of embezzling almost 900,000 hryvnias allocated for the construction of the columbarium wall.