The Security Service of Ukraine has informed that it has informed about the suspicion of sanctioned oligarch Dmytro Firtash and the top management of his companies, who are suspected of embezzling state gas worth billions of hryvnias.
"The Security Service, together with the Security Service, exposed a large-scale scheme to steal blue fuel from the gas transportation system of Ukraine. The sanctioned oligarch Dmytro Firtash and the top management of the companies controlled by him are involved in the organization of the scheme. Among them are the heads of the Regional Gas Company (RGK), which actually manages 20 city by regional gas companies, which makes up 70% of all gas distribution networks of Ukraine," the SSU noted.
"On the basis of Firtash's collected evidence, two managers of RGK LLC, the manager of Ye Energy LLC and five managers of regional gas companies were notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 3 of Article 27 , Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position, committed on a particularly large scale by an organized group, legalization (laundering) of property obtained through criminal means)," the SSU noted.
Of them, five suspects were reported in absentia, as they are hiding from justice abroad. The issue of declaring them on international wanted list is being resolved, the special service noted.
According to the data of the forensic and economic examination, only during 2021, the illegal activities of the participants caused losses to the state of more than UAH 4.2 billion. At the same time, according to preliminary estimates, the total amount of losses during 2016-2022 may amount to more than UAH 18 billion.
According to the investigation materials, the officials of "Oblgaz Firtash" embezzled more than 70% of the funds intended for the purchase of blue fuel. In fact, it is about the allocation of money to ordinary Ukrainians who paid utility bills, the SSU notes.
The scheme, as reported, was that Oblgaz, controlled by Firtash, bought fuel from a company controlled by him. But in reality they received less than 30% of the amount of gas they paid for.
"The deficit that was created due to this fraud was covered by blue fuel, which was in state property - regional gas companies simply took "unreceived" fuel from the gas transportation system of Ukraine. At the same time, the state was almost not paid for it, citing a lack of funds." According to data from Firtash Regional Gas, the state operator of the Ukrainian HTS was paid an average of 30% of the total cost of the extracted gas. In the future, those involved took the money into the shadows through a network of commercial structures controlled by the oligarch. Year after year, they increased the losses caused to the state," the SBU said.
As part of the criminal proceedings, law enforcement officers searched the offices and residences of the organizers of the criminal scheme.
In March, it became known that the SSU and BEB exposed 16 regional gas companies for embezzling billions of hryvnias of state blue fuel.
The SBU reported that the top management of 16 regional gas enterprises in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Sumy, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Chernihiv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were involved in the organization of the scheme. one of the Ukrainian oligarchs.
