NABU: Onyshchenko Masterminded Corruption at Gas Company

Corrupt schemes around PJSC UkrGasVydobuvannya (UGV), a state natural gas extraction company, involved 20 people and were masterminded by MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko from the Volia Narodu [Ukr.: People’s Will] parliamentary group, Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine Artem Sytnyk and the Head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Nazar Kholodnytskyi said during a briefing on Wednesday, June 15.

Sytnyk said that searches in relation to this case have been carried out in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv, and have already resulted in seizure of half a million US dollars and 10 people detained. This included searches in Onyshchenko’s offices, which the MP claims were illegal as he had a reception office registered at this address and it was protected by the parliamentary immunity. Ukrayinska Pravda sources say that the detectives had an official response from the Verkhovna Rada administrative office that there is no MP reception office at the corresponding address.

Kholodnytskyi added that the case was regarding misappropriation of state property on an especially large scale and organization of a criminal group, which is punishable by seven to 12 years of prison time. The corrupt schemes are estimated to have incurred ₴3 billion of losses to the state. He said he had already submitted a filing to the Prosecutor General’s Office for lifting Onyshchenko’s immunity as an MP.

In a comment to Ukrayinska Pravda, Onyshchenko said he knew nothing of this filing, but has filed a statement to the Prosecutor General’s Office against Sytnyk for "working on commission from politicians." When asked whether he was planning to leave the country, Onyshchenko replied that he wasn’t.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda, Roman Kravets, Tetiana Kusok, and Oksana Kovalenko