The court remanded ex-Deputy Minister of Energy Oleksandr Kheilo to custody — he was found guilty of taking a $500,000 bribe

The High Anti-Corruption Court (HAAC) remanded former Deputy Minister of Energy Oleksandr Kheilo to custody until October 8, 2024, who was arrested for accepting a $500,000 bribe.

This became known from the broadcast of the court session.

Kheilo can be released on bail of 25 million hryvnias. In the event of bail, he will be subject to relevant obligations, including handing over his foreign passports, wearing an electronic bracelet and not communicating with witnesses and other suspects.

The prosecutors requested a preventive measure in the form of detention with the possibility of making a 30 million hryvnias bail. Instead, the lawyers insisted on a more lenient preventive measure, because, according to them, Kheilo has a 14-year-old daughter to support.

More about the case

On the morning of August 12, Deputy Minister of Energy Oleksandr Kheilo was exposed for receiving part of a $500,000 bribe. For this money, Kheilo promised the heads of state-owned enterprises to allow the removal of scarce and unique mining equipment from the mines of the front-line region of Donetsk region. He faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

On the same day, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dismissed Hale from his post.

According to the Center for Combating Corruption, the suspects in the case are Oleksandr Kheilo, his confidant Serhiy Pylypchuk (sent to custody with the possibility of a bail of 65 million hryvnias), the ex-director of "Selydivvugillia" Serhiy Kobylyatskyi, as well as the manager of "Mykolaiv Electric Supply Company" Yevgeny Lut.

• Kheilo held the post of Deputy Minister of Energy from September 6, 2023. He is a mining engineer by profession, for 33 years his activity was mostly related to the coal industry. Heilo worked in management positions of coal mining enterprises, in particular in the field of economy, sale of coal products, marketing, supply of coal to thermal power plants of Ukraine, and strategic development of companies.