HACCU again refuses to cancel procedural obligations of Kobolev’s lawyers
28 October 12:22
The High Anti-Corruption Court has denied the motion of the defense of the former Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andriy Kobolyev, to cancel his procedural duties in criminal proceedings No. 42018000000001782. This is stated in the HACC ruling of October 7. The case concerns multimillion-dollar bonuses, which, according to the NABU investigation, Kobolyev illegally awarded himself, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Thus, the defense asked the court to release Kobolev from procedural obligations, arguing that he was faithfully fulfilling the court’s requirements and did not violate the terms of the preventive measure.
The prosecutor objected, stating that the accused Kobolyev could influence witnesses, and therefore there were still possible obstacles to the case.
The court concluded that there were no grounds to cancel Kobolyev’s obligations, agreed with the prosecutor’s arguments that it was appropriate to extend the procedural obligations, and therefore ordered
extend their validity until December 7, 2025;
to leave in force the following obligations:
- to appear in court when summoned;
- to report changes of place of residence or work;
- refrain from communicating with certain persons in the case.
The Kobolyev case
According to the NABU, Kobolev embezzled over UAH 229 million in 2018 – his actions are qualified under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office).
This article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years.
The NABU detectives believe that Kobolyev, while holding the position of the head of Naftogaz, “himself initiated consideration by the Supervisory Board of the company of the issue of approving the payment of a bonus to him “for achieving significant goals”, and subsequently prepared amendments to the proposal for the bonus for extraordinary achievements, determining its amount at USD 10 million”.
NABU investigates another case against Kobolyev
NABU’s case against former Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev for illegally paying himself UAH 229 million in bonuses has now been referred to the court and is being heard by the HACC (case No. 42018000000001782).
At the same time, it turned out that the NABU currently has another criminal proceeding against Kobolyev – No. 52023000000000177. And the facts investigated by detectives within its framework are also related to the accrual and payment of multimillion-dollar bonuses to Kobolyev.
The text of the relevant HACC Ruling, in particular, states that proceedings No. 52023000000000177 were separated from case No. 42018000000001782. And this new proceeding concerns “the circumstances of payment of the second part of the bonus to Kobolyev and approval of the extension of the employment contract”.
New data on taxes
The former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine , Yuriy Vitrenko, accused Andriy Kobolyev of not paying taxes on the multimillion-dollar bonuses he received. We are talking about UAH 66 million.
According to the former official, Kobolyev was supposed to declare and pay taxes on his own. However, he did not do so either in 2021, when he received the money, or in 2022, when the deadline for filing the declaration came.
The HACC also failed to schedule a meeting to consider SAPO motions on time, which also led to the expiration of Kobolyev’s obligations.
