Former head of “Ukrenergo” Ihor Kudrytsky said that Herman Halushchenko wanted to appoint people with "questionable professional and human values" to the company when he headed the Ministry of Energy. Halushchenko is involved in the corruption case at “Energoatom”.
Kudrytsky spoke about this in an interview with the BBC.
Volodymyr Kudrytsky is now accused of embezzling company funds. He believes that both Halushchenko and the Presidentʼs Office had a hand in this case.
According to Kudrytsky, Halushchenko tried to appoint his own people to “Ukrenergo”. In particular, to the security department and to the position of procurement director. He claims that Kudrytsky said: "I want to have my own people in your company".
For the position of security chief, Halushchenko proposed a former SBU employee who once worked with Leonid Derkach, the father of former MP and now Russian Senator Andriy Derkach, who appears in the “Energoatom” corruption case and, according to SBU, led a network of Russian agents in Ukraine.
There were also offers to appoint former “Ukrenergo” employees who had been dismissed on suspicion of corruption or professional incompetence to high positions. Kudrytsky claims that he rejected all of these offers.
The “Energoatom” case
On November 10, NABU reported a large-scale operation "Midas" to expose corruption in the energy sector.
According to the bureau, “Energoatom” counterparties were forced to pay kickbacks in order to avoid blocking payments for services provided and products delivered or being stripped of supplier status. This practice was called "barrier".
According to NABU, members of the organization systematically received 10-15% of bribes from “Energoatom” counterparties. Using this scheme, they legalized approximately $100 million through an office owned by the family of the former MP and current senator of the Russian Federation Andriy Derkach.
Five people were detained in this case, and seven were declared suspects. Their names were later announced by the SAPO prosecutor at court hearings:
- businessman Tymur Mindich, who appeared in NABU records as “Carlson”. He is considered the organizer of the scheme;
- former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myronyuk (“Rocket”);
- Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC NNEGC Energoatom Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”);
- four "employees" of the back office for money laundering: Oleksandr Zukerman ("Sugarman"), Ihor Fursenko ("Rioshyk"), Lesya Ustymenko and Lyudmila Zorina.
Myronyuk, Basov, Zorina, Fursenko, and Ustymenko have already been sent to custody, and sanctions have been imposed against Mindich and Zukerman.
The NABU recordings also show the Minister of Energy, the position held by Herman Halushchenko at the time. He was searched in the case, and on November 12, he was removed from his position as Minister of Justice.
NABU also claims that the participants in the scheme transferred money to the former Deputy Prime Minister. Presumably, this is Oleksiy Chernyshov, who has already been charged with illegal enrichment.
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