Two Ukrgasvydobuvannya officials accused of corruption scheme worth UAH 211 million
12 March 2024 09:10
The NABU and the SAPO have served two officials of Ukrgasvydobuvannya with a notice of suspicion. They are accused of organising a corruption scheme that caused the state losses of UAH 211 million, Kommersant Ukrainian 
citing the press services of anti-corruption agencies.
In 2019-2020, Ukrgasvydobuvannya held a tender and signed an agreement with a private company to provide services to increase natural gas production at its fields. According to this agreement, the basic gas production was to be paid for at the standard tariff, and the increased production was to be paid for at the increased tariff. The standard tariff was 3-4 times lower and its volume was fixed. That is, all gas production in excess of the agreed basic volume was paid for at a much higher rate.
The corrupt scheme consisted of amending the tender documents, which reduced the agreed baseline production by 750 million cubic metres of gas over a total of 15 years.
“In addition, a condition was added to the contract, according to which the calculation of monthly baseline production during the term of the contract was to be based on the volume of such production by the company during 2020, which officials of Ukrgasvydobuvannya JSC forbade its employees to increase,”
– the press service of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said.
This artificially and illegally inflated the share of gas paid for at the increased tariff. From October 2020 to November 2023, the state-owned enterprise Ukrgazvydobuvannya suffered losses of UAH 211 million due to this scheme. At the same time, the responsible official of the company also received a bonus of two monthly salaries. And after the full-scale Russian invasion, he left the territory of Ukraine and got a job as a business development manager at the company for whose benefit he organised the scheme.
Now, the NABU and the SAPO suspect him and another current Ukrgasvydobuvannya official of violating Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – abuse of power or position that caused grave consequences. This offence is punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to six years.
The press service of Ukrgazvydobuvannya reported that an employee suspected of corruption will be suspended from his or her duties for the duration of the investigation and trial. The company also promised to provide maximum assistance to law enforcement in the investigation.
“Ukrgasvydobuvannya is a subsidiary of Naftogaz of Ukraine, which is engaged in the search and development of gas and oil storage facilities, as well as the production of these minerals. It produces 70% of Ukrainian gas.
