“NABU and SAPO uncovered and documented the activities of a criminal organization that included current and former officials from the energy sector, a businessman well known in the media, and other individuals. The members of this organization built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence the activities of strategic state-owned enterprises, in particular JSC ‘NAEK Energoatom’”, - NABU reported on November 11.
As noted, at present, under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, detectives have detained 5 individuals, and 7 members of the organization have been notified of suspicion, including:
a businessman – the head of the criminal organization;
a former adviser to the Minister of Energy;
the Executive Director for Physical Protection and Security of JSC ‘NAEK Energoatom’;
four individuals – “employees” of the back office responsible for money laundering.
The main activity of the criminal organization was the systematic receipt of unlawful benefits from Energoatom’s counterparties in the amount of 10% to 15% of the contract value.
In particular, Energoatom’s counterparties were forced to pay kickbacks to avoid payment blockages for services rendered or products supplied, or to prevent the loss of supplier status. This practice became known as the “barrier”. Funds were laundered through a back office located in the center of Kyiv. Around 100 million USD passed through it. For providing services to individuals outside the criminal organization, the office received a percentage fee from the transferred sums.
The special operation to document the activities of the criminal organization lasted more than 15 months — since the summer of 2024. During this time, a large body of data was collected and thousands of hours of audio recordings were obtained. NABU and SAPO are currently evaluating the actions of all participants based on these materials. The final stage of the operation involved the entire staff of the National Bureau. More than 70 searches were conducted in Kyiv and other regions, resulting in the seizure of a significant volume of documents and cash”, - NABU noted.