“There are recordings mentioning money for NABU”: Kryuchkov made sensational claims about the Bureau’s very first energy case and a conspiracy with the Surkis brothers
6 May 12:38
Dmytro Kryuchkov, a former member of parliament and former chairman of the board of the holding company “Energomerezha,” who is accused of embezzling and laundering over 1.5 billion hryvnias from the state-owned companies “Cherkasyoblenergo” and “Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo,” stated during the court hearing that the heads of NABU and SAPO helped the Surkis brothers evade responsibility because they were “motivated,” reports "Komersant Ukrainian", citing a video broadcast of the court hearing.
According to Dmytro Kryuchkov, in 10 years of investigation , NABU and SAPO have still not identified the individuals involved in the energy scheme, although they (these individuals, ed.) appear repeatedly in the materials of the National Security and Defense Council. In addition, according to Kryuchkov, the recordings in the investigation’s possession allegedly contain statements by Surkis claiming that the NABU director received money and would do whatever the oligarch ordered him to do.
“And I want to emphasize that as far back as 2019, the case file contained recordings of Surkis where he says that the NABU director received money and will do whatever they tell him to do. Or he won’t do it and will go to the three-letter agency. Open the criminal case materials, open the ORD,” stated Dmytro Kryuchkov during one of the High Anti-Corruption Court hearings.
In his opinion, this very circumstance is the key reason why the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s detectives were unable to officially identify the Surkis brothers as participants in the crime in order to hold them accountable.
“The NABU, together with the prosecutor, singled out specific materials regarding unidentified individuals. These two, specifically. Who are they referring to? They sold out,” noted Kryuchkov.
To back up his claims, he cited several excerpts from printouts of wiretap transcripts. He also reminded the court and the SAPO prosecutor that he had been repeatedly warned about certain NABU actions, allowing the Surkis companies to “withdraw funds from their accounts” in time.
“I was warned in advance that NABU authorities would impose seizures based on a court order; this is also confirmed in the case materials. Two hours before the seizure was imposed, the specified funds were withdrawn. Subsequently, these funds were transferred to the Surkis brothers,” the former MP said during the hearing.
Dmytro Kryuchkov
He also insisted that there is a direct link between NABU leadership and the oligarchs, which allegedly helped the latter avoid criminal liability.
“There is a direct link between NABU leadership and the Surkis brothers, who somehow managed to keep everyone motivated and under their control. That is why all materials directly related to these individuals’ involvement were removed from the case file and lost,” Dmytro Kryuchkov asserted.
In this regard, the accused former MP insisted on summoning the Surkis brothers to court, as well as on the court’s examination of all NABU materials confirming that the ultimate beneficiaries of the energy scheme and its organizers are precisely the oligarchs. Meanwhile, according to him, the investigation has been ignoring these facts for 10 years.
The Case of Dmytro Kryuchkov and “EnergoMerezha”
Dmytro Kryuchkov is a former member of parliament and former chairman of the board of PJSC HC “EnergoMerezha.”
The case of PJSC “HC “EnergoMerezha” is one of the most high-profile corruption cases in the energy sector, investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
“The investigation into this crime was the first in NABU’s history: detectives from the National Bureau entered information about the start of the investigation into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations on December 4, 2015,” the Bureau’s website states.
According to the pre-trial investigation, in 2015–2016, officials from Cherkasyoblenergo and Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo illegally signed debt transfer agreements with Kryuchkov’s company. The suspects allegedly organized a scheme under which consumers paid not to their regional power distribution companies, but directly to the EnergoMerezha holding company.
EnergoMerezha was supposed to transfer the money to the semi-state-owned regional power companies, but failed to do so. As a result, the regional power companies’ losses were estimated at 1.5 billion hryvnias, according to the High Anti-Corruption Court’s statement .
The media has repeatedly linked Kryuchkov to the Surkis brothers, Dmytro Firtash, former Presidential Administration head Borys Lozhkin, and Petro Poroshenko’s business partner Ihor Kononenko. Numerous investigations have suggested that Kryuchkov was more of an executor of the scheme than its organizer. At the same time, officially, none of these individuals appear in the NABU energy case.
Key stages of the proceedings:
2015–2016 — According to the investigation, Kryuchkov, together with employees of the regional power distribution company, embezzled over 1.5 billion hryvnias in budget funds
June 16, 2016 – Dmytro Kryuchkov was notified of the charges against him
March 14, 2017 – Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest
May 5, 2017 – The Solomyanskyi District Court of Kyiv arrested Kryuchkov in absentia
July 14, 2018 – Kryuchkov was detained in Germany
April 15, 2019 – The former MP was extradited from Germany and detained at Boryspil Airport
June 16, 2020 – The first hearing in the case took place
October 3, 2024 – The former MP was again placed on the international wanted list, as he, a father of many children, had left Ukraine and never returned.
October 4, 2024 – The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) remanded Kryuchkov in custody in absentia. The court began hearing the case in absentia
January 9, 2024 – The High Anti-Corruption Court found Kryuchkov guilty and sentenced him to 15 years in prison (in absentia)
April 22, 2025 – The High Anti-Corruption Court’s Appeals Chamber began reviewing the verdict.
Kryuchkov currently resides in Switzerland and France.
