16 regional gas companies were exposed on the theft of state blue fuel worth billions of hryvnias.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB), liquidated a large-scale scheme for appropriating industrial volumes of gas from the gas transmission system of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy.
The SBU said on March 17 that the top management of 16 regional enterprises in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Sumy, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Chernihiv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were involved in organizing the deal, are connected with one from Ukrainian oligarchs. His last name is not given, but earlier the media have repeatedly associated these regional gas companies with Dmitry Firtash, who is now a fugitive from justice behind other production facilities in Vienna.
The scheme was that, on paper, officials paid for gas to private controlled companies, but in fact they did not receive gas from them. In fact, they carried out unauthorized withdrawal of blue fuel, which was in the gas transmission system and belonged to the state. This caused almost UAH 3.5 billion in damage to Ukraine in 2021 alone.
Another part of the scheme was that oblgases received tariff payments from consumers, but the money received was not used to buy gas. These funds were transferred to controlled commercial structures for withdrawal into the shadows.
At the same time, the regional gas companies continued to use the reserves of the state gas transmission system, thereby increasing their debt to Naftogaz.
In the future, the organizers of the scheme tried to “write off” the artificial debt at the expense of the budget.
The SBU exposed the deal and blocked its implementation. Today, law enforcement officers are conducting searches in the office premises of regional gas companies.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.