15.01.2025 Ecology Investigations

NABU investigation: corruption scheme that robbed Ukrenergo of UAH 58.44 million

UAH 58.44 million was embezzled from the state-owned company Ukrenergo. According to the NABU, the main person involved in this case is Volodymyr Skorobahach, a former deputy chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council and, at the time of the crime, a deputy of the regional council. According to law enforcement, he and his accomplices, including the director and founder of a private company, acquired three companies with electricity supply licenses in 2022.

As early as June 2022, these companies began receiving electricity from the integrated power system and selling it to consumers, but, as expected, did not pay for the supply to Ukrenergo. Instead, they successfully “mastered” 58.44 million hryvnias that were supposed to be used to pay for energy resources.

But there is one important point that many media outlets and law enforcement agencies do not pay attention to. Skorobahach would not have been able to solve such a large-scale scam on his own, given his political status and limited capabilities. His ties to Vitaliy Khomutynnik, a former MP from the OPFL, a former associate of Viktor Yanukovych and one of Ukraine’s biggest oligarchs, obviously helped him in the scheme.

Vitaliy Khomutynnik is the person who controls the country’s gas fields, in particular, he has important economic interests in the Sakhalin field. Interestingly, the NABU does not mention Khomutynnik in any of its reports, although his name is directly related to subsoil management. The question arises: why does Khomutynnik remain out of the spotlight of law enforcement?

Perhaps the NABU is simply not interested in stopping the activities of Party member Khomutynnik? Or was the linking of Skorobahach to “fictitious companies” beneficial to anti-corruption activists for another purpose? Another political game by the NABU instead of real and effective work?

Another confirmation of the paid-for nature of the NABU investigation is the analysis of the activities of the very companies that, according to the investigation, used electricity from Ukrenergo for free.

In particular, it is known that POWERSTOCK LLC and POWERSTOCK TRADE LLC participated in the scheme.

The former, POWERSTOCK, won the largest procurements and supplied electricity to: Kyivpastrans (worth almost UAH 700 million, October 2021), SE USPA (Kyiv) (worth UAH 330 million, November 2021), Kryvyi Rih’s Skhidnyi Tram (Kryvyi Rih) (worth UAH 132 million, October 2021), and the Education Department of Dniprovskyi District State Administration in Kyiv (UAH 42 million, November 2021). There are hundreds of such tenders. Moreover, the cost of each is millions of hryvnias.

We also observe a tendency to provide services for capital city enterprises and administrations. At the same time, the main person involved in the NABU case, Skorobahach, is a Kharkiv deputy who is unlikely to have any influence on the management processes in the capital. Something doesn’t add up, does it?

This is yet another confirmation that Khomutynnik was actually involved in the damage to Ukrenergo.

Ties to Kolomoisky and production at the Sakhalin field

As a reminder, Ukrnaftoburinnya is associated with Ihor Kolomoisky and Vitaliy Khomutynnik. The company is among the most profitable companies in Ukraine. In particular, the revenue from sales of oil produced at Sakhalin in the pre-war years reached UAH 13 billion.

The oligarchs own Ukrnaftoburinnya, which produces resources at the Sakhalin oil and gas condensate field in Kharkiv region, through the offshore companies JKX Oil & Gas, ERIPON COMMERCIAL LTD, ARES SYSTEMS LTD and ARIANA BUSINESS LIMITED. Moreover, the entire process is accompanied by the use of illegally obtained subsoil use permits.

Extraction, which takes place without accounting and proper control, allows oligarchs to avoid paying rent for the use of subsoil. This not only violates Ukrainian law, but also harms the state budget by diverting millions of hryvnias that should be used to rebuild the country after the war.

In 2023, all special permits issued to the company for gas production at the field were revoked. In addition, at that time, the SBI arrested and handed over Sirius-1 LLC, Sakhalinske LLC, and East Up Petroleum LLC, each of which is Ukrnaftoburinnya’s partner in joint venture agreements in the Sakhalin field, to the ARMA.

In 2024, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal returned the company’s special permit for gas production at the Sakhalin field. This means that oligarchs like Khomutynnik and Boholyubov have re-entered the arena, despite scandals, ties to Russia, and traveling abroad.

One of the most striking aspects of this scheme is the export of gas to Europe without accounting and taxation. Despite the ban on gas exports during the war, Khomutynnik and Boholyubov organized a channel for illegal gas transportation through Ukraine’s gas transportation system, controlling key units such as the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator LLC.

Through this channel, gas extracted without any control gets to Europe at a price much higher than the Ukrainian one, allowing the oligarchs to make huge profits in the face of war. This not only violates the law, but also undermines Ukraine’s energy security, making the country dependent on imported gas at inflated prices.

Once again, the same question arises: why doesn’t the NABU initiate criminal proceedings and ignore Khomutynnik’s activities?

In addition, in response to our complaints to investigating judges, a number of them refused to oblige law enforcement to investigate the facts listed. In particular, the investigating judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv did not want the SBI to investigate Khomutynnik’s case.

However, the next ruling in the case 761/30838/24 issued the opposite order, but in relation to the BES.

Prytula and Khomutynnik: family ties

Interestingly, Khomutynnik is closely related to the well-known Ukrainian volunteer and showman Serhiy Prytula. Khomutynnik is the husband of the sister of Prytula’s second wife. Prytula has repeatedly said that Khomutynnik should focus on business, not politics, although back in 2014 he voted for Yanukovych’s dictatorial laws that restricted Ukrainians’ freedoms.

In the context of the investigation, the question arises: did Khomutynnik help Prytula with the supply of the Armed Forces? And if so, why, knowing about his business ties with such an oligarch, did the volunteer and showman not speak about it publicly?

How can law enforcement justify their inaction?

One of the main questions that remains unanswered is why the NABU and the SAPO do not address Khomutynnik? Why are all ties to oligarchs not only left uninvestigated, but also covered up, preventing the names of those who have access to serious corruption schemes from being made public?

Instead of investigating corruption ties in the highest echelons of power, law enforcement is actively looking for culprits among small figures who do not have the same powerful political influence.

We continue to work. We are preparing new statements to bring all those involved to justice.

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