Oligarch Dmitry Firtash, three heads of RGCs and five heads of regional gas companies were informed of suspicions of misappropriation, embezzlement of property and money laundering. The SBU clarified that the gas theft scheme worked from 2016 to 2022. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison.
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The SBU published a recording of the conversations of the fugitive oligarch Firtash.
He personally deals with corruption schemes in the gas sector. He gives commands to the head of the RGC company under his control on how to withdraw UAH 120 million from accounts, discusses fraud in the register of legal entities and worries about possible nationalization.
The SBU also described the gas scheme in detail.
The sanctioned oligarch and the top management of companies controlled by him are involved in organizing the deal. Among them are the leaders of the Regional Gas Company (RGK), which actually manages 20 municipal and regional gas companies, which is 70% of all gas distribution networks in Ukraine.
According to the forensic economic expertise, during 2021 alone, the illegal activities of the defendants caused more than UAH 4.2 billion in damage to the state. At the same time, the total amount of damage, according to preliminary estimates, during 2016-2022 may amount to more than UAH 18 billion.
According to the materials of the investigation, the officials of Firtash’s regional gas companies plundered more than 70% of the funds that were supposed to be for the purchase of blue fuel. We are talking about the appropriation of money to ordinary Ukrainians who paid utility bills.
The scheme was that the regional gas companies controlled by Firtash bought fuel from a company controlled by him. But in reality they received less than 30% of the paid amount of gas.
The deficit formed due to this machination was covered by the blue fuel, which was state-owned – the regional gas companies simply took away the “missing” fuel from the gas transportation system of Ukraine.
At the same time, the state was almost not paid for this, referring to the lack of funds. Firtash regional gas companies reportedly paid the state operator of the Ukrainian GTS an average of 30% of the total cost of the extracted gas.
In the future, the defendants diverted money into the shadows through a network of commercial structures controlled by the oligarch. From year to year, they increased the damage caused to the state.
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.