Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) notified of suspicion the Director General of the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant. Now they are considering preventive measures for him. This is the fifth suspect in the case. Earlier, on April 20, they detained Mykola Martynenko and Serhii Pereloma. One of the suspects is currently abroad. This was stated by Artem Sytnyk, Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, at a briefing held at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “There are five suspects. Their guilt can be proved based on the collected evidence. The case will soon be transferred to the court. […] They are charged with embezzling $17 million of the state-owned enterprise during the procurement of Kazakh uranium concentrate at inflated prices through an Austrian fly-by-night company,” said Mr. Sytnyk.
Fifty out of 300 cases investigated by NABU are related to similar schemes. “The investigation shows once again that we have a problem with state-owned enterprises. These schemes are quite common and quite effective. People, who organized them, were untouchable before, so there was no sense or motivation to change them. Fifty out of 300 cases pending at NABU are regarding such schemes. They involve over UAH 80 billion and exceed the IMF tranches,” stressed Mr. Sytnyk.
Today NABU transferred to the SAP final suspicion for the head of Central Electoral Commission. They are waiting for the prosecutors’ decision. Meanwhile, the SAP passed a case against Oleh Lyashko’s unjust enrichment to the detectives. “We have received a case against unjust enrichment from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, but we have just received it. I am not ready to say what is going on in that case,” specified Mr. Sytnyk.
